Nearly 67 per cent of the BEST employees who were infected of COVID-19 were from the transport wing, who were mainly drivers and conductors. This data was shared by the medical team of the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking
Till date, there have been 2,399 cases in the Undertaking, of which 2,200 have recovered. Of the ones infected, 1,344 patients were from the transport wing, while the rest were from electricity and maintenance departments.
The report also stated that most of the infections took place during the month of July, which was the month when the unlocking phase began.
"The drivers and conductors were deployed on ground amid the pandemic outbreak. They had to go out and do their job, or else the city would have been on a standstill," said Dr. Anil Kumar Singhal, Chief Medical Officer, BEST.
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The doctor maintained that the infection rate was higher till end of July, however, the rate of infection gradually decreased in August.
"In August and September, the number of discharges was more than the number of patients infected in BEST," Singhal added.
A BEST conductor, who had battled COVID-19 in June and presently has resumed duty stated that during the initial days, precautions were not followed which resulted in high rate of infections.
"Initially people including the BEST staffers, were not aware of the precautions well. Many of the staffers wouldn't even wear masks and we were also on duty at COVID hospitals and hotspots which is why the infection rate was higher then, however as time progressed we became more aware of the precautionary measures and distancing policies," said the conductor.
Meanwhile, in the last one week, the recovery rate of BEST patients has increased by 2 per cent. The recovery rate of the undertaking is 92 per cent, while more than half of the active patients are asymptomatic.
