In Senegal, the public transport company Dakar Dem Dikk has resumed liaison services since Monday, August 23, suspended due to the resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic since July 17.
as reported from Dakar, Théa Olivier
Now that the new cases of Covid-19 are less numerous, the public company has decided to reopen the lines to the country’s interior to the great relief of travelers. the Senegal registered nearly 1,000 new cases of Covid-19 daily in early August, it now has about a hundred a day.
At the Liberté 5 terminal for Dakar Dem Dikk, opened the ticket offices for intercity travel early on Saturday morning. Since then, travelers have not stopped flocking. This is the case with Ibrahima Thiam, who works in Dakar but whose entire family lives in Kaolack, more than 200 kilometers away. He will finally be able to go back there on holiday: “When they stopped making the trips, it was a bit complicated for us. We could go home, but in really difficult conditions, because the other transport companies are a bit complicated, sometimes they do not last the time … it is really a relief ”.
“I took a taxi, and it cost me dearly.” If the other bus and taxi connections continued to circulate, the company would have suspended interregional travel just before Tabaski, ahead of the pandemic’s resurgence.
The recovery is therefore a relief for Cheikh Tidiane Fall, who travels back and forth every week between Fatick and Dakar: “Since it ended, we have had a hard time gathering Dakar-Fatick. I took a taxi, and it cost me dearly, I had to go as far as Cambérène to take a taxi in the suburbs. I had to get up early to get to Fatick early, with the Dem Dikk buses we have fewer problems. ”
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