In a novel initiative, the district administration in the Indian state of Kerala has launched a fibreglass partition to ensure that taxi drivers do not come into physical contact with passengers.
According to state administrative officials, the fibre clear glass is easy to install. To ensure their own safety as the passengers might be virus carriers, the driver would open the door and the passenger would not be allowed to touch it.
"Before entering the cab, the driver will provide them with sanitiser to clean their hands. Drivers will be asked to adopt online money transactions so that there is no contact between the driver and the passenger,” an official said.
A video feed shows fibre optic glass installed in the taxes with a passenger sitting on the back seat.
In another first #Kerala taxis from airport have fibre glass separating driver from passenger. This will continue for a year. Drivers r doing this for self n family safety.
— Jaaved Jaaferi (@jaavedjaaferi) May 5, 2020
Very good initiative pic.twitter.com/3CrOHh6BBG
Only two passengers will be permitted to board the taxi and both will need to sit in the rear.
“Wearing a mask for the passenger is compulsory while the driver will have to wear gloves along with the mask. Strictly, Air Condition would not be allowed in the car, as it might help spread of the virus. While the care has to be cleaned after every ride,” the official said.
The initiative was taken after a taxi driver got infected after coming into contact with a COVID-19 patient, the officer said.
According to the Indian government, there are 49,391 total positive cases of COVID-19 in the country so far and 1,694 people have lost their lives due to the virus.
