The Directorate-General for Health (DGS) has been following, from the outset, the development of the outbreak . The country's Public Health device was activated, with monitoring and epidemiological surveillance, risk management and communication, which are common in these situations.
Portugal's medical care system was part of an extensive reform program in 2002. However, there are long waiting times and it currently occupies the 12th issue in the World Health Report of the World Health Organization.
When the pandemic started the main hospital of the diferent areas were completly reserved for COVID cases, and even thought this was seen by many as example to follow, many surjeries, procedures, etc.. were canceled or posponed - this caused some disactisfaction among the people who saw their surjeries (Which they had been waiting for for months or even years, stoped with no date line in sight). Even tough the hospitals were equiped enough all new patients were first hospitalized in tents (even ambulances) outside the hospital, following a similar protocol as Croatia and South Korea.

According to the Global Health Security System (GHS), Porutgal is localted in the area of "more prepared" regarding epidemics, or in our particular case, an epidemic (there are three levels of preparedness, this is the second); together with coutries such as Spain, Norway, Brazil, Chile... The overall conclusion of this index is that no ocuntry is fully prepared  since it states that tcolletively, internaioal preapredness is weak, since there are many noutrnies that dont show evidence of the health securti capacities and capabilities that are needed to prevent, detect, and respond to significant infectious disease outbreaks. Portugal scored an overall results of 20/195 - below Belgium and above Japan. But regarding more specific results, these were its scores:
 1) Prevention of the emrgence or release of pathogens: 33/195 - below Spain and above Switzerland
 2) Early detection and reporting for epidemics of potential internaitonal concern: 61/195 below Czech republic and above Uganda
3) Rapid response to and mitigation of the spread of an epidemic: 8/195 - below Finland and aboveBrazil
4) Sufficient and robust Health System to treat the sick and protect health workers: 17/195 - below Serbia and above Argentina
5) Commitments to improving national capacity, financing and adherence to norms: 26/195 - below Peru and above Denmark
6) Overall risk environment and country vulnerability to biological threats:  22/195 - below Ireland and above New Zealand

We can observe that the results obtained are in general very good. An interesting thing to point out is that in nº 1 in all of these lists is the United States - except in the category 3) that is the UK and the 6) that the first place is occupied by Liechtenstein. 

Hereunder I attach an image from the official website of the GHS (https://www.ghsindex.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2019-Global-Health-Security-Index.pdf) where it illustrates the steps in the developmet of the index. It sould be mentioned that Portugal was one of the ocuntries that provided addtional data and references for the index (together withSpain, Switzerland and others). And below is a comparison in the categories explained above with the average of the coutries. 

The Portuguese governement decided to implement the highest level of emergency established by law, ocmpletly shut its land boraders with no exceptions, and followed an strict protocol since the very begining, being this one of the reasons as to why the rating spread is so low in comparison with the neighbouring conutry. 
The DGS followed the 'Sanitary Emergency Protocol' and among the activities that have been developed, the following stand out:
- Establishment of a team of experts / specialists (Task-force) to respond to the epidemic;
- Disclosure of daily communications;
- Organization of Press Conferences;
- Production and updating of information for citizens on the DGS website and social networks;
- Production and dissemination of information materials for different audiences, including airports, ports, health facilities, schools and the general population;
- Monitoring of social networks;
- Issuance of technical guidelines and recommendations for health system professionals and airports;
- Updating and validating the information available on cases of acute respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus (COVID-19), according to the epidemiological evolution and scientific evidence;
- Activation of the SNS24 for screening and forwarding suspicious cases;
- Activation of the Physician Support Line (LAM-DGS) to validate suspected cases;
- Permanent liaison with international institutions / organizations for the adoption of measures, in line with the recommendations issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and in accordance with the national risk assessment ;
- Articulation with Institutional Partners to amplify the dissemination of information;
- Repatriation of Citizens residing or with a history of permanence in the city of Wuhan, Hubei province, China.

In the begining of March, the health Ministry also redacted a whole document made available to the public, in which they explaneid the different measures and fases (it will be discussed down below). 
Overall, Portugal was seen as an example to follow, similar to Sweden, but as we will explore further on - just like in Sweden - the numbers have started to rise.

Portugal has eleven referral hospitals, in which suspected cases of infection can be evaluated. In a first line, there are hospitals: Hospital Curry Cabral and Hospital de Dona Estefânia (for children), in Lisbon and Hospital de São João, in Porto. In a second line, due to the appearance of a greater volume of suspicious cases, the following were activated: the hospitals of Santa Maria, S. José, Hospital de São Francisco Xavier and the Hospital de Egas Moniz in Lisbon; the Coimbra Hospital and University Center; the Hospital de Santo António, in Porto and also the Hospital de Braga and the Sousa Martins hospital in Guarda. 
According to the Director-General of Health, Graça Freitas, there are two thousand isolation rooms in SNS hospitals, and according to the same "any area can be transformed into an isolation area". 
At the end of February (released on the 24th), the transport of suspected patients was carried out by four INEM ambulances, each distributed in the cities of Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra and Faro. The National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM) had been preparing its health professionals (around 700) and all of its ambulances to transport suspected patients. 
Meanwhile the State of Emergency is activated, all of National Health Service hospitals and also private hospitals are able and prepared to receive COVID-19 patients.
The Government declared that all residents in Portugal have the right and access to receive free treatment and care against COVID-19 at the National Health Service, ending the moderating fees for those who were not exempt from these.

On february the 4th there were two suspected cases of virus from people that had been in contact with german tourists. On february 14th reported the thrid suspected case of a carrier child that had came from China. All these people were immediatly placed in quarentine, even though they were not confirmed cases - they turned out to be negative. 
March 2sd the first wo confirmed cases appear. 
On March 6th accoring to data from the 'National Pharmaceutical Association" the mask and desinfectant sales rose in 357% and 137% en relationship with the prevoius month; and incomraiosn with March 2019, there was a rise of 1829%. This same day, the suspected cases went up to 181 and the people under medical quaretine was 354. On March 8th, the confirmed cases were 29, and all of them were hospitalized. The Minister of Justice decided to susped all its activities (including visits to prisions). The President also decides to auto-quarentine and suspends all the official events. Universities and schools start to close as well (but not mandatory still). Suring the next couple of days the number of confimed cases is 9 (flat groth), but on march 11th the confired cases doubles (18 now) and the people under disease susptition rises to 3066. 
March 12th is an important date. The total number of infected is 78 and one of the hospitas registers the first total recovery. This same day, the Prime-Minister orders the closure of all public and private establihments until april 9th. The ext days, all national flights to the islands (Açores and Madeira) were canceled, and aslo on the same day, the National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge (INSA) sequenced the genome of the first two cases of COVID-19 in Portugal.
March 14th, the Health Minister, states that Potugal hase ntered the phase of exponential growth in the number of people infected with COVID-19. All beaches were closed as well as all outdoor activities. On March 16th, Portugal has 331 cases, 3 recoveries and 1 death.
On March 18th the government declares 'State of Maximum Emergency', the second death accurs (and its the President of the Santander Bank of Portugal - one of the most important). Five days later the first case in the islands.
From march 23 on, the number of recoveries starts to rise (14, 22, 75 - each following day).
By mid-april there is a total of 18091 confirmed cases, 599 deaths and 387 recoviers.
On ay the 2sd starts the transition from 'emergency state' to 'calamity state', by this time there were 25190 cases and 1023 deaths, a percentage of groth of 0.8% during that whole week. 
All the numbers were fine, Portugal was taken as an example of action. But in june there was a regrowth of the cases. And in june 27th the emergency state was reactivated but only in the region of Lisbon due to growting rate of contagions.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/portugal/

Biological samples from suspected cases were only, until February 24, 2020, analyzed at the National Influenza Virus Reference Laboratory (LNRVG), a level 3 biosafety laboratory, located at the Ricardo Jorge National Health Institute. 
As of February 24, the Hospital de São João, in the city of Porto, also has the possibility of carrying out tests. More laboratories capable of carrying out laboratory tests are expected to emerge, such as the Curry Cabral Hospital and units in the autonomous regions of Madeira and the Azores. 
Currently, all hospitals in the country already carry out laboratory tests and analyzes.
Hereunder I attach a graph where we can observe the differnece in quantitiy of testing made between Spain, Germany and Portugal.

Unlike its neighbour Spain, the Portuguese government declared the highest level of alert because of COVID-19 on March 12, only 10 days after the first recorded case of COVID (which was later discover to be only a suspition and not a real case) and said it would be maintained until 9 April (which was later extended several times).
Then on March 18, The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, declared the entirety of the Portuguese territory in a State of Emergency for the following fifteen days, with the possibility of renewal, the first since the Carnation Revolution in 1974 - entering the phase 3 and quarantine - this was later extended too. Interesting enough Portugal and Bulgaria declared the state of emergency this same day. Even though it was considered a "quick" repsonse, some countries such as France, responded as early as March 3rd. 
As we can see, the response by the governemnt was very quick, this is one of the reasons as to why Portugal was, at least in the begining, seen as an example to follow. 
In the begini of April, the Parliment approved the extension of the Stae of Emergency until Aprl 17 (subjected to further extensions). A month later, the State of Emergency was canceled and Portugal started the first phase in easing restrictions (small streets stores could reopen) and on May 18 it entered the second phase (cafes, restaurants, museums, ...) but the usage of mask and distance rules were mandatory.

As we have seen, first measures were taken very early (in comparison with other countries). These measures stood still, becoming more strict as time went by.
In the begining of March the Health Ministry decided to create a 'Contengy Plan' in which they speficied the diferent fases and all that they implied, it had three fases.
- Phase 1: corresponds to a situation in which the risk of COVID-19 in Portugal is low, which is why it is a Containment Phase, with a concentration of contingency response means. Existence of sustained transmission of coronavirus capable of causing serious health problems in humans, in places outside Portugal, with international spread. 
- Phase 2: corresponds to a situation in which the risk of COVID-19 in the national territory is moderate, initiating an Extended Containment Phase, with reinforcement of the response / contingency. What is needed is the early detection of cases and the strengthening of containment measures to avoid secondary chains in Portugal. This fase is invoked when there is presence of transmission chains in Europe and imported cases in Portugal.
- Phase 3: corresponds to the presence of COVID-19 cases in the national territory, and is divided into two sub-levels, level 3.1 - transmission chains in closed environments, and level 3.2 - transmission chains in open environments. It is the Mitigation Phase. The transmission chains are already established in Portugal, as this is an active epidemic / pandemic situation. In this context, measures to contain the disease are insufficient and the response is focused on mitigating the effects of the disease and reducing its spread, in order to minimize morbidity and / or until the emergence of a vaccine or new effective treatment.

Among the measures taken differently from other countries is the choice to do 'Public School' on National TV. All public schools (which are supposed to follow a same sylabus approved by the Governemnt) were transfered to online clases, but in order to facilitate this to teachers and emplyees, the main national TV channel (RTP) completly closed their programming and reserved its channel to have clases to students from kindergarden to 10th grade. 

Several Orders were issued by the Portuguese Government to provide tax relief as well as to address other challenges that companies may encounter.
Additionally, numerous legislative acts are being published as a way of mitigating the effects of the pandemic caused by COVID-19.
On March 18, the government announced a EUR 9.2 billion stimulus package. The government stimulus package consisted of:

• EUR 5.2 billion euros in fiscal stimulus
• EUR 3 billion in state-backed credit guarantees
• EUR 1 billion related to social security payments, and will include soft loans, and a delay in some tax payments to support business.

The government announced it was earmarking EUR 200 million in loans to support copmanies. This was followed on 10 March by the announcement of the launch of a credit line to support treasury to companies affected by the outbreak, in the initial amount of EUR 100 million. The package includes measures to support liquidity, but also to support of wages.
The announced measures also include a special budget to allow people who are out of a job to get training, as well as the employees covered by the simplified layoff.
Extraordinary measures for the maintenance of employment contracts for companies in business crisis (simplified Lay off) – financial support granted by the social security to the company, equivalent to 70% of 2/3 of the employee’s gross remuneration up to EUR 1.905, for the duration of 1 month, renewable on a monthly basis up to a maximum of 3 months (the remaining 30% being borne by the employer).
The government has in the meantime announced that the simplified Lay Off measure can be extended, as follows:

• companies that used the simplified Lay Off until 30.06.2020 and reached the maximum renewal limit (total extension of three months), may benefit from an additional and exceptional extension of this benefit until 31.07.2020;
• companies that have not made use of the simplified Lay Off but will submit its application until 30.06.2020, may benefit from this measure up to a maximum of three months (until the end of September).

An employees’ stabilization financial support was also created for employees who have received a base salary equal to or less than twice the minimum guaranteed monthly wage (EUR 1.270) in February 2020 and who, between April and June, were covered by, at least, one full calendar month by the “simplified lay-off” or by the extraordinary training plan - this financial support corresponds to the difference between the base salary reported for February 2020 and the complete calendar month in which the employee was covered by the measures above-mentioned, with a minimum of EUR 100 and a maximum of EUR 351.
Some further measures have been implemented, concerning to the benefits attributed to the employees/self-employees, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, namely, a set of allowances to be paid by the Social Security in case of (i) prophylactic isolation, (ii) infection by COVID, (iii) assistance to child/grandchild (when not possible to work remotely), (iv) employee covered by the simplified layoff, or (v) self-employees with a decrease of activity. 

As we have observed thorught this Wiki, there was a quick response to the virus, not only by the governemtl institutions but also by the soicity. There were many private business that decided to close even before it was mandatory, and the fact that ·work and school were offered online options made it easier for the population to decide to stay at home. 
Nevertheless, since mid-june there has been a regrowth of the disease, and Portugal is now the second worst contaagion per 100000 habitants of Europe (after Sweden, the oly european country that decided not to impose restictive measures). 
The Prime Minister, has attributed the increase in cases to more tests. An argument that created controversy after last week it was known that 17 countries, including Spain, limit or prohibit the entry of Portuguese because of these new Portuguese figures.
"This affirmation that 'there are more positive cases is because we are testing more', it is a little decontextualized and is not socially adequate because it promotes a false sense of security," defends the president of the Portuguese College of Physicians, Miguel Guimarães. "It is true that we are testing a lot, but we are testing because we have cases," he says.
The Lisbon numbers have caused discomfort in some locations in the rest of the country, which criticize an apparent slowness in taking action. Porto, the second city in the country, has canceled the festivities of San Juan, something that did not happen even during the Spanish flu at the beginning of the last century, and as a precaution Viana do Castelo, in the north, has prohibited the passage of the Volta to Portugal, which started in late July.
Also, many organizations and associations were opened to hire volunteer, donations, to fund research, such as: 'Tech 4 Covid', 'Stay Home, Keep Growing',etc.. Many portuguese influencers decided to appeal to its public to stay home and to trust the set measures. The hastag #FiqueEmCasa (StayHome) starts trending on social media.
A big official website was opened (covid19estamoson.pt) in order to interact with the population in a more personal and "coloquial" way, it had such sucess that 2 days later an app was developed. 
An interesting thing that was reported is that many many blogs and youtube videos in portuguese, started to appear, covering different topics regarding the virus but more focused on the "everyday life": cooking recepies, monthly shooping lists with the essentials, how to feel productive at home, etc...

Meaning making is the "attempt to reduce public an political uncertainty and inspire confdence in crisis leaders by formulating and imposing a convincing narrative" (Boin et al, 2017).

On April 30 the Portuguese Ministers' Council approved a plan to start releasing the country from COVID-19 containment measures and cancel the State of Emergency.The plan was divided in three stages, beginning respectively on 4 May, 18 May and 1 June (they were applied all over the country, until mid-june when restriciton were tightened due to the spred in Lisbon).
The first stage eased some restrictions, such as:

• Barbers and hair salons are open but with health restrictions, mask usage and only by appointment
• Small shops with less than 200m2 can open but cannot have more than 5 customers/100m2 and all must use masks
• People can use public transportation if they aren't able to work remotely. Transport vehicles can only be filled to two thirds capacity and all passengers must use a mask
• All public services are open to everyone with an appointment and is an obligation the use of a mask
• Physical exercise can only be done outdoors or at home
• Libraries and Archives are open
• Groups of more than 10 people aren't allowed

This "return" will not be happenign for some areas in Portugal since the new regrowth. In the following chart we can see the latest rates of cases. 

Due to the difference in numbers with the neighbouring coutry; when the pandemic started portuguese people where very content with the government decisions, many people had started to auto-quarentine even before it was decreed by law (including the President). Even though some opposition existed, the general sense was content. When going to shop for groceries you could see that the balconies of the apartaments were filled with portuguese flags (which you don't normally see), written messages of strenght and there wasnt a misses day of applause for the sanitary teams. This feelling was kept and there wasnt the need to deploy the military service in any case (as it happend in some places in Spain). 
This feeling started to fade about two weeks ago. Due to the early ease of the restricitve measures (one big flaw was that on may 20th was 'Mothers Day' in Portugal and measures were eased only two days before; many people traveled to see their mothers, and that may have been one of the reasons of the regrowth in the capital). People are starting to ask for accountability for this, and after a downwards trend the curve is starting to pick up.

Among the intitutions opened during the pandemic one that stands out its the website specifically opened for the purpose of sharing COVID information. The website is of fair use and is linked to the official Health Care System website; in there the are several links also attached to the governemnt legislation webpage where it allows us to check for the newest legilation on the topic . 
Another governmental website was later created to deal with more generic information explaining the emergency status, public information and exceptional measures to help business.
The Ministry of Health provides a web page with information for the public about different areas,including brochures, orientation and guidance for different activity sectors.
A document on the contengy plan was also publicated and there every citizen can check the measures for all the fases, the implications and the consequences of breaking the rules, etc.

Restriction orders can always be argued to be as a violation of the democratic right of freedom. I believe its up to each citizen to value up to what point they are considering their rights violated but is up to the governmental institutions to put the genrral wellbeing in front of every ideology and line of thought.
In Portugal, a country which one of its most important achivements was the 'Freedom Revolution' of 1975; a country that is proud of having the democracy they have; found many oppositors when restricting orders were set. 
When the flight restricition to the island were set, one of Portugals most known constitutionalists, Jorge Reis Novais, considered this order agaisnt the consitution and declared that it should be ignored by all of the people that wanted to leave the continental area to go to the islands. Of course, several ministers urged the population to not hear this statemetns and to mantain the restrictions and distance measures. . 

Portugal is experiencing an upturn on the cases and deaths. Just as his neighbour, the cases are starting to rise at a very quick velocity, because this is an ongoing event that its just getting started I will not analyse it in this wiki in depth. But I think it is important to mention it. 
Hereunder I attach the most recent image by the 'DGS' (Directorate-General of Health) from July 13th, and we can see in comparison with the previous image from July 1st the number of cases as augmented at a very rapid rate.

This point is harder to fullfil since in the case of Portugal the virus is still very present and growing. No "offical" stand point has been taken, there are not any political /legislative figures who have suffered from the decsision making during this pandemic. 
On the other hand, from a more "colloquial" point of view, several jounalist have questioned the decisions and have asked for answers. Politians have not given official interviews on the case (not the President, not the Governemnt or Prime Minister). I believe after this second have of contagion passes, there will be a strong movement to make political figures take accountability for their actions, specially since it was a consequence of bad maanagement the fact that there was a regrowth on the metropolitian Lisbon area.