APED, the Portuguese Association of Distribution Companies has said that it is in discussion with the Direção Geral de Saúde (DGS), the national health authority, about the reopening of retail stores across various sectors.
APED, which represents 163 retail businesses, said in a statement that any opening structure muse be based on strict hygiene and safety practices, and not be based on the size and location of the stores.
'Protection And Security'
"We reiterated with the DGS that the reactivation of the stores should not be dependent on their size, but on the conditions of protection and security they are able to provide," Isabel Barros , president of APED, explained.
"The rules applied in super and hypermarkets are a good example of measures of this nature that can be adopted by other stores."
Barros added that the reopening of spaces in shopping centres will have a "double security filter", in terms of safety measures implemented both at the entrance to the centres themselves and the individual stores.
Some two thirds of APED members are in non-food, and employ 40,000 staff between them, meaning that it is "imperative" that solutions for their safe reopening are found, said Barros.
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