Coronovirus: T'gana govt to initiate cleanliness measures in public transport Hyderabad

The Telangana government has decided to undertake various measures, including a campaign to promote cleanliness in public transport, to prevent the spread of novel Coronavirus. The move comes against the backdrop of the virus spreading in various countries and a man from the state testing positive for it.

Telangana Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao requested the Hyderabad Metro Rail and the state Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar to take up cleanliness measures inside Hyderabad Metro trains and state-run Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) buses. He made the request by referring to media reports that the BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation) issued a circular to depots directing them to maintain cleanliness inside buses.

"Request MDs of @hmrgov @ltmhyd to start the same in HYD Metro Rail immediately. Also, Request Transport Minister @puvvada_ajay Garu to direct TSRTC to do the same asap," Rama Rao tweeted. The Hyderabad Metro Rail has initiated different protective measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

It said Metro employees have all been made aware of preventive steps to be taken, including hand hygiene and reporting sickness. Metro stations, trains, and touch surface areas, escalators and handrails would be cleaned with soap and detergents after operational hours.

Announcements would be made for passengers soon, the metro rail said adding there has been no impact on ridership so far. Meanwhile, the test results of 36 people, including those who came in contact with the man who tested positive for the virus, are awaited.

The 24-year-old man, who tested positive for the virus on Monday, is the first positive case of not from the state. The man from Telangana, a software professional who works in Bengaluru, was in Dubai last month and worked with people from Hong Kong where he is suspected to have contracted the virus.

He had returned to Bengaluru from Dubai and then traveled to Hyderabad on a bus. The man was being treated in an isolation ward in the state-run hospital.

The Telangana government has taken up a process of tracking people (about 88) who came in contact with the techie to ascertain if they have been infected. The virus that erupted in central China in December has killed more than 3,000 worldwide and infected over 90,000 people.