Transport sector moves to beat virus
Random screening of passengers at taxi ranks and train stations
The minibus taxi industry, which transports more than 16-million passengers a day across SA, will hold crisis talks on Thursday aimed at curbing the potential spread of the coronavirus.
This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa declared the coronavirus pandemic a national disaster and announced sweeping measures on Sunday to contain its spread, including travel restrictions on foreigners from hard-hit countries, a ban on gatherings of more than 100 people, and the closure of schools.
Ramaphosa said the government was also discouraging all non-essential domestic travel, particularly by air, rail, taxis and buses, as the virus continued to take its toll,
The number of confirmed infections in SA had risen to 61.
On Monday, transport minister Fikile Mbalula said there would be random screening of passengers for Covid-19 at all taxi ranks and train stations.
Mbalula said he would be engaging with the stakeholders in the transport sector before issuing instructions and consolidate plans.
The Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) would sanitise all of its trains, he said, and called on all taxi operators to do the same with their vehicles.
“The social distancing will affect us in terms of taxis ... random testing will be applied in all the taxi ranks and all the trains but equally taxis will also be expected to undergo sanitisation,” Mbalula said.
AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS
Phillip Taaibosch, president of the SA National Taxi Council (Santaco), the largest taxi organisation in the country, said Santaco would embark on campaigns to raise awareness about the virus.
“We are planning on seeing what critical role we can play as the taxi industry in ensuring that our drivers and passengers are safe,” said Taaibosch.
“We transport more than 16.5-million passengers on any given day across the country. We also have hawkers who sell food at taxi ranks, so we believe it becomes our responsibility as Santaco to ensure that those people are safe as well, so that we can reduce or even kill the spread of this virus.”
Taaibosch said he would meet his committee on Thursday and measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus would be top of the agenda”.
Tumisang Kgaboesele, CEO of intercity bus company Africa People Mover, said all employees that displayed flu symptoms “have been directed not to come to work”. The company is “stepping up” the cleaning of coaches on a daily basis, and is looking at scaling down its services, he said.
“We are anticipating that we will be short staffed, so it’s only prudent that we look at downscaling our services.
“It all boils down to hygiene: so we are communicating with our employees on what hygiene standards they have to uphold to curb the spread of the virus,” Kgaboesele said.
Metrobus senior manager for strategy and development, Tshepo Nathan, said Metrobus would release a statement soon on precautionary measures for commuters and drivers.
TRAINS
Metrorail Gauteng spokesperson Lillian Mofokeng referred questions to Prasa spokesperson Makhosini Mgitywa, who said a statement would be issued soon.
Prasa operates Metrorail, long-distance buses City to City and TransLux and intercity train service Shosholoza Meyl.
City of Tshwane communications executive director Selby Bokaba said: “I know that there is a meeting at the moment ... that is discussing plans to curb the spread of Covid-19” and that a statement will be issued later.
National airline SAA has said it uses sanitation procedures for all domestic and international flights, and that all its aircraft are loaded with cleaning materials.
“We have implemented revised cleaning procedures, to focus on high-frequency touch points such as handles, seat belt buckles, tray tables and armrests. And all hard surfaces such as lavatories, and window shades are thoroughly wiped with multipurpose cleaners,” the state-owned airline announced recently.
“Should health authorities inform the airline that a person who travelled with SAA exhibited coronavirus symptoms, the aircraft will be taken out of service and put through a decontamination process,” the airline said.