THE United Minibus Union (UMU) is set to have a meeting with the Ministry of Public Health on March 23, 2020, to discuss a way forward as it relates to putting measures in place to ensure public transport provides its passengers with an environment that prevents the spread of the COVID-19 virus. This was the information disclosed to the Guyana Chronicle by President of the UMU, Eon Andrews.

“Well I expect there will be slides and so on showing the minibus operators how to keep their buses clean and sterile to best prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus; we expect that the ministry has systems in place that will work to, if not provide resources, at least provide the minibus operators with a system for receiving subsidies for these items,” Andrews said.

Health and safety in public transportation have been growing concerns since the first confirmed case of the novel Corona Virus COVID 19 in Guyana. Many persons have made known their fears of travelling in public transport and if there have been any measures put in place to cater for sanitisation of these minibuses.

Andrews explained that currently, minibus operators have had to take control of sanitising their own vehicles due to the fact that the association does not have the resources to provide sanitisation items to those operators. He further said that even if the UMU had the resources, many of the bus operators are not a part of the union. He however stated that while the operators await the outcome of Monday’s meeting, he still encourages all minibus operators and owners to continue working under the guidelines put forward by the Ministry of Public Health as it relates to creating an environment that would prevent the further spread of the COVID-19 virus.