A total of 45 coaches under two divisions of the Southern Railway -Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad- would be converted into isolation units to beef up the COVID-19 (coronavirus) quarantine facilities in the country.

According a report by S Anil Radhakrishnan in the Hindu, it’s part of the initiative to convert 20,000 coaches into isolation units across the country. 

Southern Railway has been tasked with converting 473 coaches that are 15 to 20 years old into isolation units.

Modification work of the coaches that are non-air conditioned has started in the depots at Nagercoil, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochuveli and Ernakulam in the Thiruvananthapuram division and Mangaluru under the Palakkad division.

The first coach would be converted as a quarantine unit by Friday, April 3, while the two divisions will have to convert 45 coaches in 10 days. 

Isolation units will be set up in eight of the nine cabins in a coach.

An independent ward would accommodate four people in a coach. Each coach would accommodate 16 persons with each cabin accommodating two persons.  

The first cabin will be converted as a store or paramedical area. To monitor the entry and exit to the other cabins, the first cabin will have two plastic curtains transversely in the aisle.

In each coach, one of the toilets would be converted into a bathroom. The coaches will have other facilities too, like three-peg coat hooks, mosquito net, etc.

As of April 2, there are a total 286 active cases of coronavirus in Kerala. The state government has also been converting buildings that were lying vacant and hostel rooms of educational institutions into COVID-19 care centres.