A number of people in England who cannot work from home returned to their workplaces on Wednesday, as the government has begun to ease lockdown restrictions.
Although people have been urged to avoid using public transport if possible, some commuters have said buses and trains are too busy to observe social distancing rules, as reported by the BBC.
One commuter said most people were not wearing masks, leaving him fearing "a second wave of infection".
As reported in the Guardian, photographs of packed London Underground trains on Wednesday show how “fraught with danger”, Boris Johnson’s return to work message is, a union has said.This was my commute to work in London this morning @BorisJohnson. This is what you get on London underground when you reduce the service but people still have to go to work. There was a lot of coughing too.
— Lord Riley (@DRileyamusing) March 20, 2020
How do we stay safe in this environment?#CoronaVirusUpdate pic.twitter.com/wT345MEjND
Tube workers said it was a “complete shambles” when part of the Victoria Line was suspended due to a passenger collapsing.
“Social distancing during the peak was a joke. During the suspension our carriages were heaving. It will get worse,” said one worker.
Mick Cash, the general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, said: “This incident shows just how fraught with danger the government’s return-to-work call is for our transport services in the midst of this pandemic. One incident and we are reduced to crisis management with reports that social distancing is impossible with tube carriages rammed".
“RMT warned this would happen and we were ignored. We are monitoring the situation across services this morning and will discuss any appropriate action with our local reps”, Cash added.
Some buses in the capital were also reported to be busier than normal following the prime minister’s message that people should return to work if possible from Wednesday.
"Any notion of self-distancing on buses or tubes is going to be impossible," said Drew Aspland, cited in the BBC.
The 36-year-old walked to work in central London from Bethnal Green after seeing his bus "back to pre-lockdown levels of passengers".
Transport for London said on Monday that it would have to reduce passenger numbers to 13-15% of normal levels if it were to achieve physical distancing of two metres.
"London tubes today & people returning to work! No social distance, so no protection from contagious often deadly COVID-19! I'd expect an increase in cases & mortalities an inevitability of this happening. Yes the economy needs recovering but people needed for it to do so!"
— Andrew Russell Davis (@Diana6197Davis) May 11, 2020
Diana pic.twitter.com/FmOnusD9bT
LONDON TUBE THIS MORNING.
— Keith Mehaffey (@KeithMehaffey) May 11, 2020
I'M SPEECHLESS. 😠😠😠😠 pic.twitter.com/Q66e4CjElw
On Monday afternoon, the UK government released a 50-page document that outlines the planned timetable for lifting national Covid-19 restrictions.
The government’s ‘indicative roadmap’ has three steps.
The second step, which will potentially begin from 1 June will see some schools and businesses begin to re-open. Some sporting and cultural events will be allowed to take place behind closed doors.
The third step which will start no earlier than 4 July will see some remaining businesses including hairdressers, cinemas and pubs re-open.
At the time of publication, the number of reported COVID-19 deaths in the UK is 33,186.
