Porto municipal microsite on COVID-19 explains Public Calamity Situation

The Municipality of Porto launched a microsite on COVID-19 that brings together the measures agreed to control the pandemic, both at municipal and national level.  

The municipal microsite on COVID-19 (covid19.porto.pt) has been a useful and important source of information to the citizens and companies of the city of Porto, as it provides updated content on the municipal and national responses to the current pandemic, regarding the recovery of the economy, as the pandemic is ongoing.

The country has entered the level of public calamity, as the lockdown officially terminated today and reopening is going to be phased.

Returning to businesses requires security measures, namely the use of masks in public spaces (supermarkets, restaurants, hairdresser's, etc.), public transport, and also the social distancing are some of the new rules to comply with.

The Porto City Hall microsite, launched in the last week of April, provides explanations on these safety measures and the rules to abide to.

The microsite is designed to be intuitive and easy to operate. And it provides updated full details of municipal services and digital channels and those considered essential for the proper running of the city that are provided city in compliance with the recommendations of the health authorities.

The microsite content is solid and is constantly updating. There is a suggestion box where owners of businesses and individual and collective service providers can communicate to the Municipality of Porto that they are functional and operating and they will be integrated in the listing after validation.

Companies can assess information od fiscal measures, financing lines, job support, personal protective equipment export and import rules, just to mention a few.

There are also contacts of hospitals and health centers, and police forces, or even a form in case anyone would like to apply to fight Covid-19 in an active way.

It is worth mentioning that the Municipality of Porto was the first to adopt a set of strict measures to mitigate the spread of the new coronavirus, on 13th March, before the National Declaration of Emergency State. And, before that, Porto City Hall presented the Internal Contingency Plan and closed municipal facilities and equipment, thereby suspending al public events for theatres and museums.

Since then, digital attendance was favoured to reduce the risk for municipal workers. The swift adaptation to this new context enabled fulfilling queries and issuances approvals or urban licenses.