Four passengers with a travel history to Germany and who had “Home Quarantine” stamp inscribed on their hands were disembarked at the Palghar station after alert co-passengers and TTEs onboard Bandra Terminus-Delhi Garib Rath express flagged a red alert, the Western Railway said on Wednesday.
4 German returned persons, travelling to Surat/Vadodara were deboarded (& handed over to district authorities) from Garib Rath at Palghar on 18/03/2020 when alert on-duty TTEs & co passengers found Home Quarantine seal on their hands. Pls don’t endanger life of others by such act pic.twitter.com/AgeTioLsy8
— Western Railway (@WesternRly) March 18, 2020
All the four passengers belonged to the same family and were deboarded from coaches G4 and G5 of 12216 Garib Rath when the Ticket Checker along with the co-passengers alerted the authorities at Palghar after seeing the Home Quarantine stamp inscribed on the passengers’ hands. The 4 passengers were earlier screened at the Mumbai Airport where they were found negative for the novel coronavirus but were advised 14 days of home quarantine.
The passengers defied the protocol and were travelling by train to Surat, possibly endangering the lives of fellow passengers. “Four persons suspected to have COVID19 who had flown down from Germany and were heading to Surat were deboarded from Garib Rath train in Palghar today,” Chief Public Relation Officer of Western Railway said. The official Twitter handle of the Western Railway posted details of the incident, exhorting people to stop imperilling lives of others by disregarding the prescribed measures.
The Garib Rath does not have a stop at Palghar but the train was stopped to deboard the passengers suspected of carrying the novel coronavirus. They were taken to a government hospital in Palghar where doctors and local authorities checked them and were subsequently permitted to go forward by road.
Even as the menace of coronavirus has swept the country, authorities administered with the responsibility of stemming its spread have ordered strict measures to be diligently followed by the citizens. Individuals suspected of contracting coronavirus and those who are advised home quarantine are expected to stay indoor and assist the authorities in their efforts to stamp out the virus rather than venture out in public places such as trains and risk transmitting the virus to others.
As a part of the efforts to contain the virus, the Maharashtra government has decided that all people undergoing ‘home quarantine’ for suspected exposure to the coronavirus will be stamped on the left hand. The stamp will contain the date till when they are asked to remain in quarantine, so that they can be easily identified in case they violate the advisory and mingle with the general public.
