Stay safe while travelling by Metro rail services says Niranjan Naik

New Delhi: Scared of travelling by Metro in whichever city you are? Here is what Dr Niranjan Naik, Director, Surgical Oncology, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurugram, got to say about it: "As we all know Covid-19 novel coronavirus infection is declared as a pandemic by WHO.

According to Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the most common mode of spread of the virus is from person-to-person contact.

CDC adds that a person can get Covid-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes.

Studies have shown that the COVID-19 coronavirus can survive up to three days on plastic and stainless steel and up to 24 hours on cardboard, and up to four hours on copper surfaces.

COVID-19 is most stable on plastic and stainless steel and traces of viable virus could be detected up to 72 hours post-application. The risk of cross contact and cross infection is very high in public transport.

Millions of people travel by Metro train network every day using Metro smart card. Contact infection is possible at various points.

However, for every passenger two inevitable contact points are at entry and exit points at Metro station. Almost all passengers touch the automated smart card reader pad at these two points. They are real traps waiting to dispense deadly COVID-19 infection.

As per Metro authorities these smart cards are readable without direct contact on the pad. So, I appeal to all the Metro passengers to hold the smart card 2-3 cms above that pad. Please DO NOT TOUCH THE PAD. IT WORKS.

I also request Metro authorities to make these announcements in the metro train public address system as well as on display screen scrolls. This one minor change can bring major change and reduce the risk of cross infection significantly.

Knowledge is power. But in reality, APPLIED KNOWLDEGE IS POWER. Just by applying this minor change we can saves millions of lives".