Indian Railways Cancels 76 Trains Amid Covid-19 Fears

The Indian Railways have cancelled 76 trains as a precautionary measure against the novel coronavirus outbreak that has become a global threat. According to railway officials, central railways have cancelled 23 trains, 29 trains were cancelled in south-central railways, 10 in western railway zone, 9 in southeastern railway zone and 5 in the northern railway zone.

Some of the railway zones like western railways and centralrailways have increased the prices of tickets with the aim of curbing largecrowds.

An advisory has also been issued by the Indian Railways to its zonalrailways stating that no catering staff having symptoms such as fever, cough,running nose or difficulty in breathing should be deployed in the business offood handling.

The advisory further reads, "All staff to wear a facemask and hand gloves, headgear, etc while dealing with food production and services to passengers, staff be advised to wash their hands with soap frequently, avoid contact with people having cough or cold, avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth, hand gloves to be changed frequently and disposed off in closed dustbin."

It also said that all staff deployed in food production and services should wash their uniforms on a daily basis and wear clean uniforms on duty.

The advisory also stated that adequate stock of hand soaps andhand sanitizers should be available at all catering units.

The Railway Board on Sunday had directed all zonalrailways and general managers to remove blankets and curtains from the ACcoaches of the passenger trains as a precautionary measure against COVID-19.