A couple was taken off a Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express in Telangana on Saturday after a passenger noticed a “home quarantine” stamp – put on people who have been advised to stay in isolation due to coronavirus risk – on the husband’s hand, PTI reported. The Ministry of Railways confirmed the incident.
“Two passengers marked with mandatory quarantine were found to be travelling on Rajdhani train between Bengaluru and Delhi today,” the railway ministry wrote on Twitter. “They were immediately deboarded and the entire coach was sanitized.”
Unidentified officials told PTI that the Delhi-based couple boarded the Bangalore City-New Delhi Rajdhani Express at Secunderabad on Saturday morning. When the train reached Kazipet in Telangana, a co-passenger noticed the husband’s quarantine mark while he was washing his hands. The passengers alerted the Travelling Ticket Examiner and the couple was told to get off the train. They were taken to a hospital while the coach they were travelling in was locked and sanitised.
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The Railways also reported two instances where passengers had tested positive for coronavirus after their train journey. In one case, eight people who had been on the Andhra Pradesh Sampark Kranti Express train from Delhi to Ramagundam in Telangana last week tested positive for the infection on Friday. Four other passengers, who travelled on the Godan Express from Mumbai to Jabalpur on March 16, tested positive for coronavirus. They had come to India from Dubai earlier this month.
Considering these instances, the Railways has asked all passengers to postpone their journeys to avoid the risk of infection. “Railways has found some cases of coronavirus infected passengers in trains which makes train travel risky,” the ministry tweeted. “Avoid train travel, postpone all journeys and keep yourself and your loved ones safe.”
There are 283 confirmed coronavirus cases in India as on Saturday evening. The Railways has cancelled many long-distance trains in the wake of the pandemic. Daily wagers are returning to their villages in huge numbers as shops, restaurants and offices in many states have been closed. Over 3,500 trains will be cancelled on Sunday to enforce the “janata curfew” or self-imposed people’s curfew announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Railways has also decided to relax refund rules for passengers who have booked their tickets for travel between March 21 and April 15.
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