(TibetanReview.net, Nov08’22) – With the Covid-19 prevention situation in most parts of the city continuing to improve, Tibet’s capital Lhasa is preparing to resume public bus transport services, reported China’s official chinadaily.com.cn Nov 7. The city has been under draconian lockdown measures since early August, prompting an outpouring of outrage on social media as well as street protests even after China claimed, falsely, as it turned out, that normal life had begun to be resumed in Tibet.
No date has been mentioned for the resumption of the public bus transport services and the city continues to be under highly coercive testing, quarantine and lockdown measures which on Oct 26 led to major protests involving mainly Chinese migrant workers.
Following the protests, China allowed eligible Chinese migrant workers to return home to China; so also Tibetans from other parts of Tibet stuck in the city’s quarantine centres under abject conditions.
The plateau city has reported five asymptomatic carriers but no locally confirmed Covid-19 cases on Sunday, the report noted, citing the regional Health Commission.
The report cited Tsering Dondrub, deputy general manager of the city’s bus operation company, as saying the company had rolled out a plan to gradually resume normal operations.
The expected resumption was stated to include 21 lines, more than 100 buses, 150 bus drivers and 150 on-board assistants. The company was stated to have listed the operational hours and closing times of bus routes too.
“After normal operations resume, all passengers will have to wear face masks during the entire trip, and all passengers must strictly follow the rules of body temperature measurement and presentation of a valid health code, travel code and negative nucleic acid test result,” Tsering Dondrub has said.