Mumbai: BEST in touch with civic body for vaccines for its employees

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AMID the likelihood of its frontline workers, including drivers, conductors, electricity staff along with employees from other public transporters, getting the anti-COVID vaccine in the second phase, the BEST is in touch with the civic body, said officials from the bus undertaking on Sunday.

The BEST has been the only public transport body in Mumbai that has been working without a break since the lockdown began on March 23, 2020. Officials said the services were not stopped for even a single day whereas local trains, often referred to as the lifeline of Mumbai, came to a halt.

The transporter kept on ferrying essential workers and gradually increased its services and has now come close to inducting its entire fleet of 3,400 buses. It has 27 depots, 51 bus stations and 112 bus termini or chowkies. BEST's chief medical officer Anilkumar Singal said they have been discussing inoculation of their staff with the BMC. "We had a few internal meetings," he said.

Singal said they have managed to bring down infections among their employees in the past 60 days. "Under Operation Zero Death, we conducted 112 rapid antigen tests at various bus depots and places of work. So far, 8,251 employees have been tested of which only 0.4 per cent that is 34 were found to be positive," he said.

The official added, "Every day, almost 500 employees are screened and over 5,000 awareness sessions of COVID-19 are held, and 1,40,000-plus Vitamin C, D and zinc tablet packets distributed among them."