Passengers of Chennai train react to news of Covid-19 cases

Our Correspondent
Kohima, May 25 (EMN): The first three positive cases of Covid-19 detected among the passengers aboard the Shramik special train from Chennai have alarmed those under quarantine across the state on Monday.

A returnee from Chennai, who is currently undergoing her quarantine at one of the designated centres in Dimapur, told Eastern Mirror that she was “really scared” when she heard of the news.

“More so, because there is no proper information about it and to which compartment they (infected persons) belong,” she said.

However, she added that they took precautions onboard the Shramik special train to Dimapur “but there were some people who were very careless in their compartments”.

Asked if the returnees were examined properly by the medical team at Chennai central railway station, she said that many were not checked. “Many were not screened; they were asked whether they were feeling ok or not,” she stated.

It was only after they complained that the medical personnel screened them. “We were the first ones (to be screened). So when we complained, only then they screened us. But there were many people who were not screened; they were only asked if they were ok or not,” she added.

According to reports, a group of 11 returnees who arrived at Agri Expo after coming from Kolkata, were not screened and sent directly to a quarantine centre.

She also shared her concern that some people would not be detected even though they are screened since they are asymptomatic.

She was apprehensive of the ‘lack of equipment and facilities in the state’ to combat Covid-19 cases. “The equipment are not proper,” she claimed.

She also shared how a thermal scanner had stopped functioning ‘due to low battery’ after screening two or three persons upon arriving at their quarantine centre. “Even that small device is not proper, so how can we expect bigger equipment to be proper,” she asked.

She shared that people are not allowed to mingle or talk with each other at the quarantine centre where she is being kept, except being confined to their respective rooms. She also informed that a girl from the same quarantine facility was taken in an ambulance to a hospital after she complained of a slight fever in the morning.

Another returnee from Chennai, currently being quarantined in Dimapur, said that the inmates were allowed to ‘pass their time by playing games together in the compound at their facility on Sunday’.

Meanwhile, two male returnees, who also came via the special train from Chennai and currently undergoing quarantine at Meriema in Kohima, informed that they had gone to Covid-19 hospital at Naga Hospital Authority Kohima (NHAK) and tested themselves through an ambulance provided by the authority.

The returnees informed this newspaper that their results came negative for Covid-19.