Covid-19

The Guardian displays Porto’s Covid prevention measures campaign to explain how Europe is tackling the pandemic’s second wave. The online article highlights how several European countries, such as Austria, Germany, France, Sweden and Portugal are implementing measures, as regards, for instance, community engagement and restrictions.

Porto Youth Hostel is already working as of 11th November, as a district hosting facility for people that are not infected with the new coronavirus, and the first beneficiaries are due to arrive within the coming days. The equipment is supplied with 35 beds, but its installed capacity can be doubled. In addition, the elderly who cannot rely on caretakers that have been infected by Covid-19 can be hosted at the Youth Hostel.

Porto Municipal Gallery decided to temporarily halt public programmes linked to the ongoing exhibitions, this November, owing to the current pandemic measures in place. As such, two programmes scheduled for November have been cancelled, namely the talk scheduled for 14th November, at 4pm, and the concert by Luís da Riviera, on 15th November, at 6.30pm. The Gallery is open for visits to the exhibits.

As of today, there is a second drive-thru Covid-19 testing centre in Porto, namely in the parish of Campanhã. This new equipment was set up in the parking lot of S. Roque, a space provide by the City Hall. This screening centre is run as the one set up at the Queimódromo (operated by Unilabs), since the beginning of the pandemic, the first of its kind to be set up in the country, and people don't need to exit their vehicles to get tested. Also, the centre is open to the entire population, but...

The city of Porto launched a mupi campaign to raise awareness on the importance of complying with the preventive measures regarding the fight against Covid-19. This is the latest advertising by the Municipality of Porto, owing to the pandemic. These messages are meant to reach broader audiences and disseminate the effective message that every individual behaviour makes a difference and has great collective impact in the fight against the new coronavirus.

The Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira has expressed to Porto Civil Protection District Commission the Municipality's readiness to collaborate in the guidelines that are being defined by that entity to contain the spread of the new coronavirus. In a letter sent to the Mayor of Gondomar, Marco Martins, who presides over that Commission, Rui Moreira indicates the available spaces for the purpose of operating as a district support facility, namely the Youth Hostel. The Municipality of Porto ensures...

The Municipality of Porto, via Porto Digital, leads the Data4Covid19 project, whose goal is to integrate multiple source data. This resource will enable to implement and monitor, in an integrated way, the measures to fight Covid-19 by combining resources from several companies and research centres, as tools towards decision-making processes, especially regarding health, prevention measures and the rapid establishment of a prognosis.

Bioprospectum, a company incubated in UPTEC, the Science and Technology Park in Porto and a spin-off of the Health Research and Innovation Institute in Porto (i3S), has identified two substances with a capacity for antiviral activity that can neutralize structural parts of the SARS-CoV2, by means of computational Chemistry.

Fixed tariffs for water, sanitation and urban waste for non-household customers have been exempted in the city of Porto, as approved by Porto City Hall last April. This was pointed as an example by the United Nations (UN), as an innovative measure against Covid-19, in the framework of a policy brief recommended to cities the world over.

"With Portugal easing out of confinamento, the second city's residents are enjoying cafes once again, but miss the tourists more than they were expecting", states Oliver Balch, a British author and freelance writer living in Porto.