With winter essentially upon us and the surge in Covid-19 cases across the world, it is imperative that everyone, from the individual to the government to all institutions, public and private, do their part to curb the spread of this virus which has shown little sign of disappearing any time soon.
To that end, the Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association (BRTOA) has issued a letter to its members making the use of face masks mandatory for transport staff members mandatory -- a commendable step towards ensuring the safety of passengers and workers alike and further preventing the spread of Covid-19.
It is encouraging to see organizations paying heed to the words of the prime minister, who last month highlighted the importance of wearing masks in public places in order to prevent a potential second wave which could do further damage to our nation’s health and economy.
We cannot allow complacency and negligence to direct our actions and, as such, it is extremely important follow and continue to maintain health directives. Unfortunately, all too often, we see encouraging initiatives abandoned shortly as people go back to old habits, with little regard and care for the consequences.
This cannot become the reality in this case, not it comes to wearing face masks -- wearing a mask remains among the simplest and most effective ways to ensure that the virus does not spread among the population.
Public transport is too essential a service to be lacklustre when it comes to the implementation of safety measures and transport workers who do not comply with the directive are essentially endangering the lives of millions of people who depend on public transport every day.
Such recklessness should not be tolerated, on public transport or elsewhere, and those found to be responsible should be brought to book.