Since May 4, the country, now in a State of Calamity, is gradually resuming economic activity. To help the Portuguese to know which establishments are open, the Open4Business platform has verified information, an initiative of the State Secretariat for Transio Digital and VOST Portugal. So far, nearly 900 stores are identified, on a platform that allows users to register their business.
In the press release, the Office of the Minister of State, Economy and Digital Transition, explains that citizens now have access to information certified by volunteers from VOST Portugal, the Association of Digital Volunteers in Emergency Situations. The data are for businesses located in mainland Portugal and in the autonomous regions, and it is also available to consult the opening hours of each store.
The platform allows users to register their establishments, regardless of sector or size, as well as the period in which they are open. Access to services can be done through a map or a list.
So far Lisbon and Porto are the districts with the largest number of open establishments registered on the platform, with respectively 220 and 302 services identified. In the islands, the situation is quite different, with only 44 stores in total.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic is a reality in Portugal, there have been several initiatives to help fight the disease, a capacity for innovation and mobilization already highlighted by the same OECD. One of them is the Government portal Somos On, launched in mid-March, where this new website is integrated, in an initiative within the scope of the Digital Response Office COVID-19, coordinated by the Ministry of Economy and Transio Digital.
