The SA National Taxi Council has launched a programme which will see taxi ranks and the vehicles being sanitised in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Santaco president Philip Taaibosch launched the initiative at Wanderers taxi rank in the Johannesburg inner city on Wednesday. Taaibosch said all taxis will be sanitised before receiving passengers and the drivers will do the same.

The initiative will start in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape, and later be rolled out to the rest of the country. Sanitisers will be made available in taxi ranks and also to queue marshals to ensure a clean environment.

"As the taxi industry...our only response is to ensure that the 16 million people that we transport are protected from being infected.

"We have identified major taxi ranks which have taxis departing to various parts of the country. At these taxi ranks, we will not only rollout education, training and prevention campaign bit ensure stringent compliance to procedures and protocols," said Taaibosch.

Santaco also released a document which will be distributed to all taxi associations containing prevention protocols for the industry. Taaibosch urged all those working in the industry not to mistreat those who cough or sneeze in the taxis but urge them to cover their mouths.

However, Taaibosch admitted that the initiative was a costly exercise and called for government to provide financial backup. Santaco has 1,000 taxi associations in nine provincial structures across the country.