Bangladesh public transports lack coronavirus measures

Precautionary measures in public transports against the spread of the coronavirus infection are yet to be seen even after the identification of COVID-19 cases in Bangladesh.

Public transports, including buses, ridesharing services and trains, are being operated as usual in the capital and across the country.

Officials concerned and transport owners said that they had already alerted the transport workers to keeping clean the transports used by mass people.

Issues related to cleanliness in the public buses and other transports used under the ridesharing services are scheduled to be discussed at the monthly coordination meeting of the road transport and bridges ministry tomorrow.

Leaders of Bangladesh Road Transport Owners’ Association told New Age that they would discuss the current issues at an internal meeting today.

Bangladesh Railway officials said that usual measures were being taken to keep the trains clean while all concerned were asked to follow the government directives to prevent the spread of the virus.

Three COVID-19 cases were detected in Bangladesh on Sunday.

As of Friday, one of the affected persons went back home after recovery, said officials of the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research.

IEDCR officials have urged those returning from the coronavirus-affected countries not to use the public transports.

They also requested people with any symptoms of the infection like fever, coughing, sneezing and breathing difficulty to avoid using public transports.

Professor AKM Mosharraf Hossain, chairman of respiratory medicine department Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, told New Age that people could be infected by coronavirus from doors, railings  and seats of public transports if someone, who was already affected, sneezed or coughed and wiped hand inside the transports.

Mosharraf, also a member of the committee formed by the hospital to prevent coronavirus, said that the public transports have to be cleaned or washed by wiping again and again.  

But the situation on roads was found different.

On Friday, the buses and trains to and from India were shut down as the Indian government on Thursday had announced that they would not issue any visa to travel the country until April 15.

In Dhaka, no initiative was seen to ask passengers with specified symptoms to refrain from using buses, trains or ridesharing services.  

People were found using public transports as usual while no precautions against the virus were noticed on public buses.

Some 4,500 to 5,000 city service buses ply in Dhaka daily while only masks are not adequate as precautions, noted passengers.

‘I’ve to use buses five days a week to go to my office at Uttara but almost all buses carry more people than capacity making the environment inside unhealthy,’ said Prashanta Kumar, a commuter.

Passengers, in this regard, also complained about ridesharing services, especially about motorcycles where pillion riders use the same helmet.  

Dhaka Road Transport Owners’ Association general secretary Khandaker Enayet Ullah said that they had already asked the bus owners to keep clean their transports and wash these regularly.

He said that buses running on long routes were cleaner than those used for city services.

They are scheduled to hold an internal meeting today where measures to prevent the virus would be discussed, he added. 

Bangladesh Road Transport Authority chairman Kamrul Ahsan said on Thursday that they had already sent to the offices concerned the government directives to prevent the spread of the virus.

‘We have meanwhile had a primary discussion on the issue and on Sunday we are scheduled to discuss at the monthly coordination meeting of the ministry what more measures can be taken to make the public buses and the ridesharing services safer,’ he added. 

More than 300 trains carry lakhs of people across the country daily.

Bangladesh Railway’s director for both traffic and public relations Md Shafiqur Rahman told New Age on Thursday that on March 10 they had sent formal notices to all offices concerned to keep the trains clean and keep soaps in toilets as usual.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net