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Cascais COVID BUS, Source: CM Cascais

COVID-19 testing bus rolls out on the streets of Cascais

COVID-19 testing bus rolls out on the streets of Cascais

The mobile laboratory is meant to help those with reduced mobility get tested quickly and efficiently

Earlier this week, on 23 June, the Portuguese municipality of Cascais welcomed its newest innovation – namely the COVID-19 testing bus. The mobile laboratory is now on the streets of the city, ready to provide the most vulnerable with fast and convenient testing.

Innovation in times of crisis

Innovative solutions and methods have been key for many cities when it comes to dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. Local governments across Europe have been experimenting in all kinds of ways in order to gauge the best approaches to the unravelling crisis and have found unprecedented success with many of their ideas.

The COVID-BUS is just the latest example of Cascais’s efforts in dealing with the crisis in a smart manner. The mobile laboratory can already be found travelling on the streets of the Portuguese city, offering its services to those in need.

The specific target group of the COVID-BUS are the citizens of Cascais with reduced mobility or those who lack the ability to access digital media. The bus is key to accomplishing the local government’s overarching goal of testing the city’s entire population for COVID-19, as it will be able to reach those who might have otherwise remained untested.

The mobile laboratory will travel to all 40 neighbourhoods of the city, carrying out the tests. The results will then remain confidential and will be sent in the form of an e-mail or SMS to citizens.

This latest innovative solution is but one of many measures taken by the municipality. Over the last few months, Cascais has implemented a number of concrete actions including the distribution of free masks to the local population, the provision of food to those severely impacted by the economic crisis and the strengthening of local social groups in the city’s neighbourhoods. And, of course, none of these ideas could have been implemented without the help of the over 300 volunteers aiding the authorities on their quest of protecting the citizens of Cascais.

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