This is one of the several recommendations contained in the “Sector Commitment Document”, which establishes the rules for restarting the activity based on the guidelines of the Directorate-General for Health and results from a cooperation protocol signed today between the DGS and the Confederation of Commerce and Services of Portugal (CCP).

Establishments, which must have a contingency plan for covid-19, must refuse the entry of customers who show “symptoms compatible” with the disease and work only by appointment to guarantee a smaller number of people inside the facilities and fulfil a two metre distance between them.

If there are customers waiting, they must wait outside the establishment, with a minimum distance of two metere between them, according to the document, released today.

Different working hours must be created to “reduce the number of workers in the establishment simultaneously”, and keep the door open to minimise the touch on the handle. If this is not possible, the handle should be cleaned after use.

At the entrance of the establishment, there must be gel and alcohol and “encourage its use” through posters available on the DGS website.

Greetings should only be “nod or verbally” and it is up to the customer to put their belongings in the cloakroom, which should not carry shopping bags inside the space.

The client should be asked to comply with the “respiratory label” when coughing or sneezing and the DGS leaflet on proper hand washing should be posted in the bathrooms.

Nor can food, coffee, tea or any other beverage be offered and there should be no magazines, tablets, written information, etc.

Payment must be made preferably by ATM or credit card and the customer must wear a mask or visor.

Employees must wear a surgical mask, goggles, or preferably visors, and footwear and clothing are for exclusive use, washed daily and “where possible exchanged between customers or disposable”.

They must wash or disinfect hands between clients frequently, after touching cash / credit cards, among other situations, and must not wear adornments.

They should also “avoid gel nails, gelinhos and long nails that prevent professionals from properly cleaning their hands” and should not come to the service if they show symptoms suggestive of covid-19.

Each employee must have their own equipment (dryer and brushes, for example) and decontaminate them on a regular and periodic basis and cannot share utensils between customers.

The document also defines the creation of a cleaning, sanitization and disinfection plan that provides for "a greater frequency for all surfaces", such as a manicure table, hairdressing chair arms, switches, door handles, ATM terminal

Brushes, scissors, combs, files should be washed and disinfected after each use, he stresses.

There should be at least two trash cans with a pedal operated lid covered with a plastic bag, one for urban waste and one for disposable personal protective equipment.

“The ventilation system must not be placed in the air recirculation mode” and “in closed spaces” doors or windows must be opened.

The document warns that, “once the virus continues to circulate in the community, the resumption of activity if not well guarded may, due to the increased exposure and contacts, expected in the face of the resumption of activity and progressive cessation of social confinement, increase the possibility of a second epidemic wave that will cancel all the effort already made ”.