Bratislava – Overview of measures for culture

Bratislava quickly reacted to confinement with online broadcasts of theatre plays, concerts from windows and balconies, as well as cultural activities in hospitals. Read the full overview or Bratislava’s measures for culture here and more on the original article by Vlado Grežo and Pavol Demeš here (in Slovak)

Contact: Petra Dzurovcinova

Izmir – Health first

In Izmir, all employees working in the health sector, pharmacists and pharmacy staff have free access to public transportation. In addition, four bus routes have been redirected to exclusively serve city hospitals. Trips and timetables of these routes are coordinated with the hospital to accommodate changes and updates in staff shifts. While conductors are separated from users, hand dispensers are available in the bus and at bus stops for passengers. Read more here

Contact: Ozan Sumerkan

Brest – Essentials of public transport

Brest metropolis has run a survey with hospital staff, nursing homes and other relevant workers to establish essential routes and timetables to guarantee public transport for these categories. This also resulted in creating a dedicated night bus service for the main sites of the Brest University Hospital. Read more here (in French)

Contact: Anne-Marie Cabon

Quartier de Recouvrance - Agrandir l'image, .JPG 388Ko (fenêtre modale)

Cardiff – Rugby stadium becomes hospital

With help from Cardiff Council teams the Principality Stadium is being transformed into a temporary hospital with a capacity of 300 intensive care units that can be increased up to 2,000 if necessary. The new facility, the second largest created in the UK to tackle the crisis, will allow to free up capacity at other Cardiff hospital sites. You can read more here and here.

Contact: Beverley Watson

Lille metropole – Crowdfunding medical equipment

The University Hospital in Lille, with the technical support of Lille Metropole and Lille City, has launched a crowdfunding campaign for medical equipment in the Calmette Hospital, which has been transformed into a COVID-19 hospital with 140 dedicated beds. The aim is to enable the rapid acquisition of 20 pulsoxymeters and 10 reanimation respirators to be able to cope with massive hospital admissions for intensive care. The estimated cost of the purchase of this equipment is estimated at over €180,000. In less than 24 hours, the campaign had already collected €23,000. Read more here

Contact: Christophe Bolot

Hamburg – Ready to treat corona patients from France and Italy

Hamburg has offered to admit ten intensive care corona patients from Italy in one of the city’s hospitals. The local health authority confirmed that Hamburg still has the capacity to treat foreign patients. As of Saturday, 28 March, 36 corona patients in Hamburg were in intensive care. In Italy, many hospitals are overburdened and cannot treat all patients. Since Sunday, two corona patients from France are under intensive care in the university hospital of Hamburg. Read more here (in German)

Contact: Thomas Jacob

Munster – Virtual hospital for corona patients

The University Hospital of Munster, Germany, offers medical advice to intensive care doctors in other hospitals by video. With this support, corona intensive care patients could stay longer in smaller hospitals close to their home and would not have to be transferred to university hospitals so quickly, while those beds could be reserved for more severe cases. In the region of Westphalia Lippe alone, more than 200 hospitals could use the telemedicine offer from Munster in cooperation with the University Hospital Aachen. Read more here (in German)

Contact: Anna Chevtchenko

Lille Metropole – Support to hospitals

Lille Metropole is supporting local hospitals by supplying barriers and security guards, new signage and food from the reserves of the municipal office’s restaurant. The metropole is also working to promote the production of protective masks for caregivers by local textile companies and independent dressmakers. Read more (in French) here.

Contact: Christophe Bolot

Mannheim/Baden-Württemberg – Patient treatment across the border

Last weekend, patients from French hospitals in the Région Grand Est who needed urgent artificial respiration, were transferred to hospitals in Mannheim, Heidelberg, Freiburg and Ulm. The German hospitals provide in station hospital service and most importantly, ventilators. Read more here

Contact: Nelly Saemann

Berlin – Rapid response strategy includes new hospital

The Berlin city government will build a new hospital for up to 1,000 coronavirus patients. Other measures being taken include reducing metro services, and updating its crisis response strategy.
The updated strategy aims to support people and businesses through offering measures such as tax relief for companies struggling with liquidity, or covering loss of earnings for cancelled events or when staff are quarantined.

Read more here

Contact: Johanna Eisenberg