Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority has provided its services to transport over 100,000 suspected cases of Covid-19 infection through taxis to healthcare facilities since disease outbreak to support the government in managing the pandemic. To further support and strengthen the efforts of government against the pandemic, the Authority is continuing this service along with the local health authority.

Mehailah Al Zahmi, Director of Customer Happiness Department at Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), Dubai, said 100,000 suspected cases of Covid-19 were transferred to hospitals by taxis in coordination with Dubai Health Authority (DHA) to contain infection and ensure the safety of the other community members. "Taxis were issued for any suspicious case based on DHA request. We picked those customers and delivered them to the DHA facility in order to make sure that there is no contact with any other person.

"After the delivery of the customer, taxis are sanitised because it is a very sensitive issue. And as a next step, we put separators between the drivers and the passengers for their safety and also to contain the infection," she said on the last day of the fourth edition of the Mena Transport Congress and Exhibition 2022 at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

According to RTA, shared transport means, such as e-hail and smart rental vehicles, transported 15.29 million riders in 2020, while cabs served around 109.94 million passengers. Following the government guidelines, RTA operated with only 30 per cent capacity of public transportation modes during pandemic peak.

During 2020 when Covid-19 struck globally, the demand for public transport in Dubai as well as around the world witnessed a sharp drop by nearly 80-90 per cent due to governments imposed travel restrictions. But as life returned to normalcy and removal of the restrictions, public transport usage is gradually rising in Dubai and globally. 

Al Zahmi added, "We haven't held it back yet, and it is continuing as this initiative was taken to support the government during the pandemic."

She further noted that during times when there was a shortage of delivery bikes during pandemic, RTA did not step back and offered its taxis to deliver food to consumers doorstep – a first of its kind initiative.

SOURCE - Khaleej Times

LINK - https://www.khaleejtimes.com/transport/dubai-100000-suspicious-covid-19-patients-moved-to-hospitals-by-taxis-to-contain-infection