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Berlin (dpa) - With a study commissioned by itself on the infection rate in local public transport (ÖPNV), the industry is advertising for passengers during and after the Corona crisis.
Accordingly, the risk of infection in buses and trains is no higher than in private transport, the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV) announced on Monday.
The VDV asked the Charité Research Organization for the commissioned work, co-financed by Baden-Württemberg and ten other federal states.
The institute is a subsidiary of the Charité and mainly conducts clinical studies.
For the study, the institute selected 681 participants without a previous corona infection.
In February and March of this year, these were randomly and almost equally divided into individual traffic and local public transport in the area of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV).
After the test phase, which lasted around five weeks, the subjects in both groups were tested for antibodies - a sign of a corona infection.
These antibodies could be detected in the same number of participants in each group.
The authors conclude from this that the risk of infection in everyday life does not increase with the use of local public transport.
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"We now have scientific clarity for passengers that the use of public transport in relation to other means of transport is not associated with an increased risk of infection," said Baden-Württemberg's transport minister, Winfried Hermann (Greens), on Monday.
"The results of the study show that compliance with hygiene rules, frequent cleaning and ventilation of vehicles on the one hand and keeping your distance and wearing a mask on the other hand are effective means of protecting against infection."
The transport companies suffered high financial losses in the Corona crisis.
You keep the offer almost completely upright.
At the same time, the occupancy rate has dropped significantly.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210510-99-539019 / 3