Dubai: 100,000 suspicious Covid-19 patients moved to hospitals by taxis to contain infection

Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority has transported over 100,000 suspected cases of Covid-19 through taxis to healthcare facilities since the outbreak of the disease as part of its initiative to support the government against the pandemic.

To further strengthen the government's efforts against the pandemic, the Authority continues this service in cooperation with the local health authority.

Mehailah Al Zahmi, Director of Customer Happiness Department at Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), Dubai, said 100,000 suspected coronavirus cases were transferred by taxis to hospitals in coordination with Dubai Health Authority (DHA) to 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 sidelines of 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, lifted 15.29 million riders in 2020, while cabs served 109.94 million passengers.

In alignment with the government guidelines, RTA had to operate with only 30 per cent capacity of public transportation modes during the peak of the pandemic.

During 2020 when Covid-19 hit the world, the demand for public transport in Dubai and globally had dropped by nearly 80-90 per cent due to the travel restrictions imposed by the governments. But as life returned to normalcy with the removal of the restrictions, public transport usage is steadily on the rise in Dubai and globally.

Al Zahmi added that this initiative with DHA continues to help society and the authorities.

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

She added that when there was a shortage of delivery bikes during the pandemic, RTA offered its taxis to deliver food to consumers doorstep in the first of its kind initiative.