Tech4Covid19 movement shares first solutions to tackle the new CoronaVirus

This post is part of a collaborative effort between Startup Portugal, The Next Big Idea, and Sapo24, meant to create relevant content to tackle the Covid19 pandemic.
Content available in Portuguese.

During these times of a pandemic outbreak, the best and the worst of us have been coming to surface. The situation is bleak enough as it is, so we’re going to focus on something truly moving: the Tech4Covid19 movement that arose inside the startup and entrepreneurial Portuguese community during the past weekend (you got that right: these amazing people hold no quarter against the new CoronaVirus).

What started as a simple Slack community has been growing and growing to dozens of meaningful projects, designed in accordance to the most pressing needs of health professionals and Portuguese authorities in order to help those already helping us, namely the medical professionals and all structures providing them with key support.

From startups providing online medical appointments for free, to applications to track the virus, or a fundraiser to buy proper safety equipment for the heroes fighting in the frontlines, this community has been walking the extra mile and taking extra steps to add value, to solve problems, and to create solutions. They’ve been venturing the entrepreneur way with a goal bigger than starting a company and making some bucks. They’ve been venturing to help all of us!

This will be the first in a series of posts about this community in particular, and projects that have already taken off.

Fundraising campaign

These one is self-explanatory: the Medical Order of Portugal says at least 20% of infected people in Portugal are medical professionals. They need our support more than ever, and the goal of this fundraiser is to provide it.

By buying masks, gloves, suits, and aiming to pay for new ventilators, this campaign aims to keep the true heroes of this story safe.

You can help as well. Just make your contribution and share the good word:

LUGGit’s WeMoveIt

Never has moving stuff safely made so much sense. When most of us are quarantined, or simply trying to avoid getting infected and consequently overload the National Health System (also really important!), LUGGit, a startup focused on picking up, saving, and delivering bagage, is now helping people move essential goods amongst themselves. All to keep the streets empty and safe.

For now, WeMoveIt operates only in Lisbon and Porto areas. LUGGit, though, is looking for volunteers (aka “keepers”) to help expand the initiative to other districts.

The service costs €2,5, with the money reverting exclusively to the keeper.

Virtual medical screening services by Gyant and Zaask

The Portuguese National Health System has never ever been so tested. All professionals were called to the frontlines and are working tirelessly to mitigate what can be a disaster. Making sure they take care only of those in dire need of assistance is, as such, an important service to pay.

Gyant, a startup developing health services, set up a virtual medical screening service. Through their platform, medical professionals can access patients via videoconference and make 10 to 15 questions to assess the next steps.

Zaask has a similar solution via their Visor.ai platform. This platform has a chatbot doing medical screenings that will redirect patients to doctors in case they check positive in Covid-19.

Free medical appointments by BetterNow, Knok Healthcare

Three healthcare service startups joined the movement to offer free medical appointments and help the National Health System cope with the crisis.

BetterNow has an app available for download for iOS and Android, via which they offer free online appointments. Their solution is simple: connecting voluntary medical professionals with patients. That easy!

Als available on your normal app provider, Knok Healthcare solution has over 190 medical doctors ready to get on a conference call with patients and help them this way. It requires patients to create an account.