Pakistani taxi driver loses his life after contracting coronavirus from passenger in London

LONDON: A third British Pakistani taxi driver lost his life in the battle against the coronavirus in the UK after contracting the deadly virus from an Italian customer he picked up from Heathrow airport to Central London – merely few hours before the UK lockdown started.

Zahid Pervaiz lived in High Wycombe, a town in the northwest of London, but worked as private hire Uber driver in London. Zahid Pervaiz's death has left his family shattered. He passed away after remaining in intensive care for about a week in a local hospital.

Zahid Pervaiz, who was in his mid 50s, is the third Pakistani origin taxi driver to lose his life fighting the deadly disease. He struggled with the coronavirus at home and he was admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) after his situation continued to deteriorate.

Rashid Arshad, a businessman from High Wycombe who was a close friend of Zahid Pervaiz, told The News and Geo that Zahid Perviaz was a hard-working and devoted person who looked after his family and wanted to give a good future to his children. Rashid Arshad shared that Zahid Pervaiz was popular locally and helped others in hour need.

Mr Arshad shared: “Zahid became ill few days after the lockdown started. He told me over the phone that he had picked up an Italian customer from Heathrow Airport and he suspected he picked up virus during that ride. We were planning to sit Aitkaaf starting from 10th of May and I had purchased tickets for ten of us. We were going to Saudi Arabia for prayers in a group. Zahid Pervaiz paid for the tickets and rest of the arrangements and he was so looking forward to be performing Umrah.”

Rashid Arshad said that he tried calling Zahid Pervaiz last week, but first he didn’t answer for a few days and then his phone went off for four days as Arshad kept calling his friend without any success.

Also read: Another Pakistani taxi driver in London loses his life to COVID-19

A day later, he visited Zahid Pervaiz’s home to know about his well-being. “His son opened the door and told that his father lost life to COVID-19 on Friday night after spending a week on ventilator. Rest in Peace.”

Zahid Pervaiz is the third Pakistani origin taxi driver to lose his life within three weeks fighting the deadly disease. While taxi drivers are not considered as essential workers, Transport for London has still allowed private hire and taxi drivers to operate without providing extra protective measures.

In The Netherlands, the state has provided a partition between taxi drivers and passengers which can help reduce contact between the two and reduce the chances of contracting the virus. No safety measures to protect drivers have been taken in the UK and taxi drivers allege that they are not allowed to install a partition screen due to health and safety regulations in the UK.

In a tweet, Nadia Whittome, who is a Labour MP from Nottingham East said, "Uber and private hire drivers haven’t been given PPE, not even a drop of hand sanitiser, as they provide essential services to NHS staff. They’re dying. The government must act to prevent further avoidable deaths."

There are over 11,500 Pakistani origin Taxi drivers in the UK. Previously, it was noted that Black and ethnic minorities (BAME) are disproportionately represented in the total Coronavirus cases. While BAME origin doctors and nurses are accounted for, taxi drivers have been ignored with no personal protective equipment or other help provided.

Previously, Ayub Akhtar, 33, a perfectly healthy taxi driver lost his life while fighting the virus. His family alleged that he contracted the virus after a passenger constantly coughed in the car. Ayub’s mother said that it was most painful for her as a mother to hear from the nurse over the phone that her son has a few hours to live.

Another young Pakistani origin taxi driver, Zeeshan Ahmed, 27 recently succumbed to the virus. He was based in Tooting Bec, had no prior health conditions and had migrated to the UK in 2014. His father, Mohammad Iqbal Gondal, 60, also suffered from a mild version of COVID-19, but his health situation didn’t deteriorate and started improving within ten days.

Yaseen Aslam who is the general secretary of United Private Hire Drivers said, "Taxi Minicab drivers are under extra risk without any support or guidelines. We have written to the Transport Department, the Health Department and the Mayor of London but still await their responses."

"How many taxi drivers need to die before the government takes our genuine demands seriously? The lives of Ayub, Zeeshan and Zahid could have been saved if the government had issued clearer guidelines for these drivers who are licenced by them."

Yaseen Aslam argued that discrimination was a factor in the failure of the industry to adequately protect drivers and the failure of the government to regulate this industry.

"How can it be that the government regulations deem it too dangerous for barbers to work but perfectly safe for minicab drivers to do so without any protection?"

Earlier, a conflict between Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and health experts sprung forth with alternate views on wearing face masks in public.