Buttons in the elevators in malls of Bangkok have been replaced by foot pedals. It is a plan to check the spread of Coronavirus through human contacts.
BANGKOK: A mall in Thailand has changed the buttons of its elevators for foot pedals. It is an effort to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 here. It is also an effort to restore normalcy in the mall and get the shoppers start shopping again.
Seacon Square at Bangkok gave a sweet surprise to its customers. Most of them were confused this week to find pedals in place of buttons in the elevators in this mall. This new technique was welcomed by all the visiting shoppers in the mall. It is a hand free technique and is designed to check contact generated spread of coronavirus infection. It was declared as a smart move to stay healthy.
“They did a good job in preparing this. I feel much safer because we use our hands to do various things all the time,” said a customer who disclosed only her first name, Watcharaporn.
“Now that we can use our foot to press the elevator, it`s really great.”
The malls and the departmental stores were opened in Thailand on Sunday. It was open for the first time since the month of March 2020. It is the second phase of relaxing measures. The number of new cases of coronavirus have slowed down in Thailand. It has confirmed 3,034 cases and has 56 deaths so far.
Thailand’s economy is the second largest economy in Southeast Asia. But it contracted at a sharpest pace in eight years in the first quarter \It pushed the recession in sooner than it was expected. Coronavirus outbreak had hit the tourism industry and other domestic activities in Thailand very badly.
The Central bank in Thailand has cut its benchmark interest rate for the third time this year to a record low on Wednesday.
ProteSosothikul, vice president of Seacon Development, which oversees the mall, said the foot pedals gave shoppers some peace of mind. “The easiest way to get infected is when you touch an object that has been contaminated,” he said.
“Eventually touch your face and the virus will go into your mouth, your eyes, or whatever. So, we came up with this idea of hand-free, foot-operated elevator.”
