Public transit increases virus prevention

Pandemic prevention measures are being strictly adopted in Songjiang South Railway Station, as well as the district's tramcars and buses.

Beginning in early August, daily passenger flow through the railway station steadily declined due to the sporadic outbreak of new COVID-19 cases across the country. Yet as Shanghai's southwest traffic hub, the station's pandemic prevention measures are being strictly carried out.

In the waiting hall, a loudspeaker constantly alerts passengers about temperature and health code checks and wearing face masks.

"Passenger flow through the station has been dropping daily. About 3,000 passengers come in and 1,800 passengers come out of the station each day of late. Starting from mid-July, Songjiang South Railway Station has kept upgrading its pandemic prevention measures," said Cheng Gang, a manager with the station.

Meanwhile, an automatic temperature measuring gate has been installed at the exit of the platform to speed up efficiency and facilitate passengers.

"Even though passenger flow may be dense occasionally, within 5 minutes all the passengers can exit the station," Cheng said.

The station now carries out disinfection four times daily on its security equipment, metal detector, bathrooms, handrails, elevators, seats, turnstiles, ticket vending machines and ticket booths.

Public transportation in Songjiang, while maintaining its normal operation, also sees pandemic prevention measures covering its 854 buses and 30 tramcars.

From 11pm to 3am daily, 12 cleaners disinfect the district's 30 tramcars – a total of 150 compartments.

Xie Xiaodi, one of the cleaners, shoulders a 16-liter disinfection barrel each night and sprays disinfectants on every corner of tramcars. He then uses mops and rags to clean the interior, armrests and seats of the compartments. As the final round, he uses disinfectants with a higher density to repeat the procedure once again.

"Finally, we'll close the doors and windows to suffocate potential viruses. We normally spend 45 minutes on disinfecting one tramcar. And each night we consume at least 10 barrels of disinfectants," said Xie.