Kerala requests stoppages at major stations in State for special Rajdhani trains

Thiruvananthapuram, May 12: Kerala Chief Minister, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan today asked for stoppages at all major stations in the State for the special Rajdhani trains. “We have requested the Railways to provide more stoppages in the State for these special Rajdhani trains as per the stops permitted for the regular Rajdhani Express. At the same time, we asked them to avoid the stoppages in other States so as to evade any risk of exposure to the passengers and run the trains as non-stop till it enters the State,” he said. The State has requested for non-AC trains to be run as fully air-conditioned coaches will aid the spread of the virus during this pandemic time.

 Currently, only three stops have been announced for these special Rajdhani trains in Kerala Kozhikode, Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram. People in the northern districts of the State like Kasargod and Kannur will be forced to get down at Mangalore (in Karnataka) and travel inter-state causing further hardships.

 The Chief Minister also informed that elaborate testing arrangements are being set up at railway stations. After booking tickets, people should register their details on the Covid Jagratha portal and apply for the pass. There will be mandatory 14 days home quarantine for those coming back by train. Those who don’t have the pass will be moved to institutional quarantine centres from the railway station itself. DIG A Akbar has been appointed to oversee the security checking of those arriving by trains and SP rank officers have been appointed as Special Officers at all major railway Stations.

Return of stranded Keralites in other states

 So far 33,116 people have arrived in Kerala by road from other states. Of these, 19,000 came from Red Zone areas. Of the total 1.33 lakh people who applied for a pass, 72,800 were from the Red Zone areas. Till now, 89,950 passes have been issued and out of these, 45,157 are for people from Red Zone areas.

 There is a limit on the number of people who can cross the border every day based on the number of people the check posts can handle without crowding and passes are being issued according to that.

 “Home Quarantine is now allowed those coming from other states. The home quarantine should in effect be the room quarantine. You should stay in your room and not interact with others so as to avoid any risk to children, sick and the elderly at home. At this stage, no one should do beyond what is recommended by health workers and the government”, the CM said.

 The police are responsible for ensuring that anyone arriving at the airport, the railway station or the border check post by road reaches their homes for quarantine or the government quarantine as instructed.

 Minister of Health & Social Justice, Smt K K Shailaja; Industries Minister, Shri E P Jayarajan, and Chief Secretary, Shri Tom Jose IAS were also present for the briefing.

 Kerala Covid-19 Tracker

Five new cases today, total 32 patients under treatment

Thiruvananthapuram, May 12: Five new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in Kerala today. Three persons from Malappuram district and one each from Pathanamthitta and Kottayam districts are those who tested positive. Four of them have come back to the State from abroad and one from Chennai.

 At the same time, no patient under treatment for Coronavirus has tested negative today. The total number of confirmed cases in the State is 524 and presently, 32 patients are under treatment in different hospitals. 23 out of these 32 patients are those who returned from outside Kerala and nine are cases of local transmission, spread from people who came back. This was informed by Chief Minister, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan while briefing the media today.

 “We are entering a new phase of Covid prevention as Pravasi Malayalees are retuning. It will be a big challenge to keep those coming from hotspots safe. We have to stop community spread at any cost and if we are not able to manage it, the repercussions will be beyond our control. We are making elaborate arrangements for testing all those who are coming back by road, rail, flights and ships. The State is taking up the responsibility of ensuring the safety of those coming back”, said the Chief Minister. He also complimented the Malayalee nurses across the world on the occasion of the International Nurses Day.

 So far, 33,116 persons have come back to the State by road and 1,406 by flights and 833 by ships.

 Presently, there are 31,616 persons are under surveillance across the State. Of these, 31,143 are under quarantine at their homes and 473 are isolated at hospitals. 95 people were admitted to hospitals today.

 Till now, 38,547 samples have been sent for testing and 37,727 samples have been confirmed with no infection. As part of sentinel surveillance of high-risk group, 3,914 samples were collected and tested. Of these, 3,894 samples have tested negative. 

 As on today, there are 34 hotspots in Kerala. Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha and Idukki districts have no Coronavirus patients.

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