A 29-year-old Kanyakumari native was deboarded from a Kozhikode-Thiruvanthapuram Jan Shatabdi Express train on Friday after he received his COVID-19 test results in the middle of the journey. According to officials, the man had begun his train journey before coming to know of his COVID-19 test result.
According to officials, the man, a contract worker at Kunnamangalam in Kozhikode district, had given samples for a COVID-19 test three days ago in Kozhikode after he exhibited certain symptoms. Before the result returned, he left for his hometown after learning that his pregnant wife had been hospitalised.
The man had boarded the train to reach his hometown in Tamil Nadu and midway, he received a call from health officials asking him to get down at the Ernakulam Town railway station.
According to reports, after coming to know that the man was COVID-19 positive, health officials in Kozhikode contacted him but the train had already left the station. Though they intimated health officials in Thrissur district, by the time they reached Thrissur station, the train had left from there too. It was the health authorities in Ernakulam who then reached the EKM Town station and shifted the man to the hospital.
He was then immediately rushed to the Government Medical College in Kalamassery where he is presently under treatment.
Railway officials told TNM that after the man got down, the compartment where the man travelled was sealed, preventing other people from entering it. Three others who were in the compartment with him were also shifted to another seat in the train. The train then continued on its journey.
“The details of all the passengers who were in the compartment were shared with state health officials for necessary further action,” said an official with the Railways. He also said that measures have been taken to sanitise the train completely in Thiruvananthapuram.
TNM has reached out to the District Medical Officer (DMO) to ask whether the man had been asked to remain at home while his test results were awaited.