All 21 passengers who travelled to Kumbakonam and Thanjavur by the Chengalpattu-Tiruchi special train were sent for quarantining at a private college in Vallam near Thanjavur on Tuesday night.
Railway sources said 10 passengers, including two women who had e-passes, alighted at the Kumbakonam station. The State Health Department team deployed at the railway station screened them and collected swab samples, following which they were all sent by bus to the private institution for quarantine.
The sources further said 11 passengers who had e-passes and alighted at Thanjavur were also screened. Swab samples were lifted from them and thereafter, they were taken to the same institution by bus for quarantine.
The move comes in the wake of several persons who had returned from Chennai and its neighbouring districts testing positive for the novel coronavirus in recent days.
On Monday night, a passenger who alighted at Thanjavur station by the same train was immediately rushed to the Thanjavur Medical College Hospital after the Health Department team noticed a quarantine seal on his hand.
The Tiruchi-Chengalpattu-Tiruchi special train has been operated from June 12 on the mainline section via Thanjavur, Kumbakonam and Mayiladuthurai. Consumer activists and rail users in Tiruchi and Thanjavur have sought either the suspension of the train services for the timebeing in view of the spike in COVID-19 cases in Chennai and Chengalpattu districts, or its short termination at Villupuram.
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