India to use some train coaches as COVID-19 isolation wards
29 March, 2020
India said on Saturday (Mar 28) it was likely to turn some railway coaches into isolation wards for patients with coronavirus, as authorities scramble to prepare the country's health infrastructure for an expected surge in cases.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the country's 1.3 billion persons this week to stay indoors for three weeks in the world's biggest lockdown, wanting to curb the spread of the condition. India's network of trains, the country's lifeblood, has been idled.
One train coach has been converted into a prototype quarantine facility, state-owned Indian Railways said in a statement on Saturday.
After they get clearance, the program is for every single of India's railway zones to convert 10 coaches into such wards weekly, the business added. Indian Railways has 16 zones, according to its website.
"Railways will offer you clean, sanitised & hygienic surroundings for the patients to comfortably recover," tweeted railways minister Piyush Goyal. He didn't specify how many persons could be looked after in each coach.
India has reported 918 confirmed cases, including 19 deaths.
The lockdown measures are taking a huge toll on India's poor, including an incredible number of migrant labourers whose jobs in cities have vanished. Many are now walking back again to their villages or crowded bus stations in the hopes of finding rare transport, raising fears they will unintentionally spread the virus across India.
On Saturday, a migrant worker, who lay out from New Delhi on a 270 kilometres (168 miles) walk to his hometown in Madhya Pradesh, collapsed and died, a police official said.
India's home ministry said in a statement on Saturday it was advising states to supply food and shelter to migrants at relief camps alongside highways.
PAKISTAN SEEKS ARRESTS
Overall, the amount of coronavirus cases in South Asia has increased to 2,648, including 39 deaths. Sri Lanka reported its first coronavirus death on Saturday, a 65-year-old diabetic tour guide.
As the toll in South Asia remains low overall, there are fears it could swell given the region's illness services and population density.
In Pakistan, police on Saturday arrested 38 prayer leaders and mosque officials for violating a ban on congregational prayers even while cases swelled to over 1,400 in the united states.
A plane carrying relief assistance and eight doctors from key ally China landed in Islamabad on Saturday, a Pakistani foreign ministry statement said.
"(They'll) advise our health and wellness care experts in the light of their experience and success in battling COVID-19 in China," the statement read. China has already given Islamabad testing kits, masks, protective gear and other medical equipment.
In Nepal, more than 600 European tourists were evacuated on charter flights on Saturday, authorities said, but thousands more remain waiting to be brought home by their countries.
"This will leave between 8,000 and 10,000 tourists still stranded because of lockdown in Nepal," said Dhananjay Regmi, the principle of Nepal's tourism board.
Source: