Of all the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking employees being treated for COVID-19, those from the traffic department, which includes conductors and drivers, have been the fastest to recover.
Currently, 91 BEST employees are under treatment. 58 of the 124 staffers from the traffic department have already been discharged, notching a recovery rate of 47 per cent for this section.
Meanwhile, on Friday, 20 new cases were detected among BEST staff, the highest number of cases to be detected in a single day so far, taking the total number of cases to 176. Also, eight patients were discharged and the total count of those discharged patients stands at 80.
"The patients of the transport department have shown highest recovery rate. All of them are frontline workers and engaged in emergency services, so it's a good thing they are recovering really fast," said BEST chief medical officer, Dr Anil Kumar Singhal.
From its other departments, 12 employees in the electricity supply wing, seven in the garage and maintenance department and 3 employees in other miscellaneous departments have been succesfully cured so far.
In another development on Friday, BEST has completed the installation of polymer curtains in the 200 buses deployed for transporting doctors and paramedic staffers from various hospitals and Covid-19 quarantine facilities of the city. The curtains are a precautionary measure, to ensure social distancing is maintained inside the buses between the passengers and drivers and conductors.