TN issues strict guidelines for those arriving by trains

“Even if a single person tests positive, all the remaining persons who traveled in the same bogie, even if they test negative, will be subjected to institutional quarantine for seven days followed by house quarantine for 14 days. For the purpose, bogie wise passenger list has been handed over to Chennai Corporation,” Chief Secretary K Shanmugam said in the order.

According to the guidelines, swab test would be taken on all the passengers. If the results of all passengers of the same compartment return negative, they would be sent to their native places through special buses. After reaching their native places, all the passengers should strictly remain in home quarantine for another 14 days.

Shanmugam added that as soon as the train reaches Chennai Central station, the passengers of the same compartment would be made to alight only through the same exit, with adequate social distancing, and would be screened immediately. After the screening, there would be two exits, one for free quarantine and the other for those proceeding to paid quarantine.

The passengers would be taken to the quarantine centres on special buses. An official source said that the passengers would be made to stay till Sunday, and would be sent to their home towns only after confirming that they were not infected by the virus.

Though the State government opposed train services till May 31, the Centre is operating two trains from Delhi to Chennai. The first train reached on Thursday and the second train is scheduled to reach on Saturday.

According to State government data, 787 passengers reached Chennai on Thursday. Out of them, 523 were taken to quarantine centres setup at two private colleges on OMR. The remaining 264 passengers have opted to stay in hotels at their own expense.

In a move to provide quarantine facilities to those returning to the city from other states and countries, the Greater Chennai Corporation has made arrangements for 10,000 rooms at hotels and lodging houses where the returnees can pay and stay.

“For those who want to avail free quarantine, we have arranged facilities in educational institutions. Persons returning from other states and countries should have to stay in isolation for seven days before going to their homes. Earlier, the isolation period was 28 days,” a Corporation official said. The official added that the hotels have been listed as A, B and C categories with charges fixed at Rs 2,500, Rs 1,100 and Rs 800 respectively per day. The charges include that for food as well.

On Thursday night, as many as 787 persons returned from Delhi of which 264 persons have opted for accommodation at the hotels. Remaining 523 persons are staying in free quarantine facilities at a private college. Already, more than 1,000 persons have returned from other countries.

“It is up to the returnees to decide whether to stay at free accommodation or paid accommodation. We facilitate stay by contacting hotel owners. Tests will be conducted and only the persons who would test negative will be sent home. Others will be sent to hospitals or COVID care centres based on the severity of symptoms,” the official said.

Meanwhile, several persons from Bihar, Odisha, Tripura and Assam, who had reached Chennai on Friday night, were sent to quarantine centres and hotels.

On the other hand, the Corporation sent around 16,000 guest workers from the city to their home states as on Friday. Of these, 3,834 belong to Jharkhand and 3,764 to Bihar. As many as 2,332 workers had returned to Uttar Pradesh.