SocietyCivil Protection

The payment of parking meters in Porto has been suspended till, at least, 9th April, by indication of Mayor Rui Moreira, who wants citizens to avoid using the machines.

Several schools in Porto have been selected to provide meals to students from vulnerable households and are also accommodating the children of health professionals, under the national strategy to fight the new coronavirus outbreak. This initiative is operationalised by the Regional Directorate of educational establishments.

All automatic ticket machines will be deactivated and ticket validation will not be required by Metro of Porto, starting Wednesday, 18th March. This initiative follows the one previously taken by the Bus Company, the STCP in Porto, in the scope of the measures taken to fight the Covid-19 outbreak.

The hotel sector in Porto and owners of Local Lodging establishments, under the coordination of Porto City Hall, are making rooms available to medical staff working in hospitals in the city of Porto.

Porto City Hall and a local company have developed a project to immediately start producing personal protection masks, surgical type masks, in a sufficient number to municipal workers in close contact with the public to wear and also to be distributed to the Fire Brigades, transport companies, for example, STCP (Bus Company).

The municipal civil protection service has issued a Warning regarding the epidemiological situation of the new coronavirus, CoVid-19 enhancing several recommendations to the population in the framework of this Domestic Alert and the International Emergency, which was declared a pandemic by the WHO on 11th March 2020.

Waste collection is ensured in the city of Porto, but there are new procedures to follow, in the scope of the contingency plan the city is undergoing.

Porto has prepared the first track centre for Covid-19 in Portugal, in a joint initiative by the ARS-Norte (Regional Health Authority), Porto City Hall and Unilabs Portugal. This has been installed according to the "Drive Thru" system, and it is especially targeted at people that are suspected to have the Covid-19 and that have been previously signalled by the NHS (SNS).

Since Sunday morning, police cars drive around Porto spreading the messages "Stay at home", "We can't, but you can", "Help us fight coronavirus", "#StayHome in four languages (Portuguese, French, English and Spanish).

The novel coronavirus outbreak can cause people to feel anxious. Aware of that, the University Centre of Hospital São João (CHUSJ) provides a team of nine psychologists experienced in handling crisis situations to support people who are being treated for COVID-19 and their relatives.