Indian Railways issues fresh travel advisory after 12 passengers test Covid-19 positive
New Delhi : Indian Railways on Saturday found 12 passengers, who travelled through trains, positive with Covid-19; the authorities have issued an immediate travel advisory.
"Railways has found some cases of Coronavirus infected passengers in trains which makes train travel risky. Please avoid train travel as you may also get infected if your co-passenger has Coronavirus. Please postpone all journeys and keep yourself and your loved ones safe," the ministry of railways said in its advisory issued Saturday.
The Indian Railways authorities have also started tracing people who may had come in contact with the 12 passengers during their journey.
Among the first such cases who tested positive were eight passengers who had travelled AP Sampark Kranti Express from Delhi to Ramagundam in Telangana on March 13. The authorities announced that they were tested positive on Friday.
In addition, four more passengers travelling on Godan Express (Train 11055) from Mumbai to Jabalpur on March 16 have also been tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday.
"We have begun contact tracing of all passengers. These four had a travelled to India from Dubai last week. They were travelling in coach B1 and all passengers are being contacted. We trace them through the registered details for their tickets and then take the help of local state authorities. As an immediate step we also stop the train and quickly sanitize the entire coach" a railway ministry official said.
They also informed that the train coaches have been isolated post sanitization.
A couple of cases have also been registered where people flouted their self-quarantine and travelled through the trains.
"As per the information provided by on-board staff the two passengers identified were a newly married couple. The train had reached Kazipet in Telangana in the morning. There was a complaint by a passenger who was using the wash basin to wash hands and observed the seal on their hand and immediately informed the Travelling Ticket Examiner( TTE). The train was stopped and both the passengers were taken to the hospital in an ambulance. We have sanitized and locked the coach and the air conditioning has also been switched off," another senior ministry official said.
