Since February 21, the government has set up a dedicated fleet to help transport confirmed patients to community isolation facilities. Currently, there are about 400 anti-epidemic taxis in Hong Kong dedicated to transporting patients to designated COVID-19 clinics. However, due to the lack of verification methods in the anti-epidemic taxi reservation system, some taxi drivers have recently exploded on the Internet, and some people have taken advantage of the loopholes to take “free cars”. Some representatives of the taxi industry admitted that because drivers have no right or responsibility to verify the identity of customers, this situation cannot be ruled out, but the general perception is that taking anti-epidemic taxis is more at risk of contracting the virus than general taxis.
It is understood that at present, citizens can easily reserve anti-epidemic taxis by simply entering the relevant reservation website, providing their mobile phone number for verification, and then providing personal information, the date, time and boarding location of the pick-up and drop-off. A suspected anti-epidemic taxi driver broke the news anonymously on the Internet, saying, “As long as you don’t mind taking an anti-epidemic taxi, Haoyi can have a free car ride”, “I have tried picking up the same customer for several days in a row”, and said with a smile, “Is it true? I see the doctor every day, I know it!”.
The driver also pointed out that although he was a vested interest, he also felt that the abuse was really unsightly, and suggested that the government let the passengers show the QR code for easy verification. As soon as the news came out, a large number of netizens scolded “misallocation of resources”, “government idiots”, “officials’ inadvertent actions to promote abuse”, and lamented “Hong Kong people are unethical and selfish”.
Wu Kuncheng, the permanent president of the Taxi Drivers Association, responded that since the driver has no right or responsibility to verify the identity of the customer, it cannot be ruled out, but he does not believe that this situation will spread. Adventure for tens of dollars.” In addition, the teams participating in the anti-epidemic team have also paid more attention to whether the passengers are suspicious, and if there is any suspicion, they will be reported to the relevant authorities.
