Passengers of Maitree, Bandhan Express to be screened for coronavirus in Kolkata – Hindustan Times

Kolkata News

Travellers arriving in Kolkata from Dhaka and Khulna in Bangladesh via two trains – the Maitree Express and Bandhan Express – will now be screened at the Kolkata railway station starting from Saturday for the coronavirus infection, a top health department official of West Bengal said on Thursday.

Bangladesh authorities have already started thermal screening of passengers reaching the country from India in these two trains from Tuesday, the Bangladesh media had reported.

“We will start thermal screening of passengers alighting from Maitree Express and Bandhan Express at the Kolkata station starting from Saturday. The decision was taken on Thursday,” said Ajay Chakraborty, director of health services.

While Maitree Express, which connects Kolkata with Dhaka runs five days a week, Bandhan Express which connects Kolkata with Khulna runs twice a week.

Meanwhile, some Nepalese media reported on Thursday that a Ukrainian couple who entered Nepal from Darjeeling district in north Bengal was detected with high fever at a border check post in the neighbouring country and were sent back to India. Senior immigration officials posted in Darjeeling district, however, said that the couple didn’t have fever.

“They didn’t have fever. They came back to India. We are trying to track them,” said Amarnath K, superintendent of police of Darjeeling district.

In Kolkata, a shopping mall, with one of the largest footfalls in eastern India, started giving hand sanitizers to its visitors from Thursday. Security guards, wearing surgical gloves, at the entrance of the mall were seen providing hand sanitizers to visitors as a precautionary measure.

Bengal’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Dilip Ghosh said on Thursday that one can prevent contracting the deadly coronavirus infection just by covering the face with a piece of simple household cloth.

“As there is a shortage in the supply of masks, one can take a piece of clean cloth available at home and use a string to tie it. I think this will solve the purpose. Some scientists are saying that as the size of the coronavirus is big it can be stopped by using a piece of cloth. It will take at least two to three months to supply masks to such a large population in India and China. So as a preliminary precaution, a cloth will do,” said Ghosh.

Earlier, on Tuesday, Ghosh had said that thousands of peoples at temples across India drink water with their hands and also consume ‘prasad’, but ‘nothing happens’ as they have the blessings of God.

Source: https://m.hindustantimes.com/india-news/passengers-of-maitree-bandhan-express-to-be-screened-for-coronavirus-in-kolkata/story-5laYkyBJnpHl6fa0mCnJMK.html