Sister cities Bangkok and Porto share best practices on how to fight the global pandemic

Bangkok’s International Affairs Office has carried out a project to promote multicultural society with Bangkok's Sister/Cooperation Cities through exchanging public relations videos. As sister cities, Porto and Bangkok came together to enhance the benefits of global network as regards the best practices on how to fight Covid-19 and prepare for the post-pandemic scenario.

Early this month, Bangkok’s International Affairs Office shared a short video themed "Why Porto" from "Porto.", and invited everyone to “discover Porto together”. In fact, these unprecedented times have brought the realization that collaboration and experience sharing are the best ways to learn how to fight this global pandemic and comeback stronger. Bangkok and Porto are sister cities and, as such, have the opportunity to learn from each other.

With the aim to promote people-to-people exchange, as well as cultural, tourism, and economic cooperation, both cities have developed communication tools and have worked on strategies to boost the city’s recovery, looking forward to the end of this pandemic.

Both cities – Bangkok and Porto – have developed communication strategies to help their communities better prepare for the harsh times and to support the city’s social and economic fabric. In Porto, some of those strategies included the setting up of mobile screen testing, large scale production of surgical masks, drones flying over the city with warning messages, Mupi campaign to advise the population of the need to stay at home, pioneering programme to test in nursing homes, the setting up of a Field Hospital with a capacity to 320 beds, antigen test to on-site workers and the setting up of a drive-thru vaccination centre; the sending of cleaning teams to disinfect the streets and the waste collection sites, or even other measures as the delivery of 30 ventilators to the city’s hospitals with the support by the Jack Ma Foundation, and the launching of a significant economic support package to families and companies by the Municipality of Porto. Other measures included the cancellation of the major festivities in the city, as the celebration of the city’s patron Saint, São João, Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

Porto produced a short video on how the city was fighting COVID-19 and Bangkok’s International Affairs Office shared it on their social media. Under the scope of stringing city-to city cooperation, Porto. also shares a video on how Bangkok is dealing with the world’s most urgent matter, at present, while looking forward to the post pandemic future.