West Bengal: Negative RT-PCR report mandatory for those arriving by train, says Railways

Amid a surge in cases in West Bengal as well as the rest of the country, the Railway said that those arriving in the state by train must carry a negative RT-PCR report for a test conducted within 72 hours of train departure. This came a few days after the state government decided to make it mandatory for all passengers to carry their RT-PCR negative test reports while traveling to Bengal. 

In a letter to the Railways, the Bengal Home Secretary HK Dwivedi wrote, "Notwithstanding such RT-PCR negative report, proper thermal and health screening of all passengers must also be conducted by the railway staff before boarding."

The Railways also informed that the passengers traveling in trains are advised to follow COVID-19 appropriate behavior while boarding, traveling and at the destination. 

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, following a high-level meeting with top officials on Wednesday, had said metro rail and state road transport services will be curtailed by 50 percent and local train operations suspended, from Thursday, as part of fresh measures to combat the rampaging second wave of COVID-19.

The Northern Railway has decided to cancel some special trains including Shatabdi Special, Jan Shatabdi, Duronto Special, Kota-Dehradun Special, and a few others from May 9 to further notice.

COVID Cases In Bengal

West Bengal's COVID-19 fatalities rose to 11,964 on Thursday after 117 deaths, the highest so far in a single day were reported, the health department said in a bulletin. The caseload also mounted to 9,35,066 after the state registered a record one-day spike of 18,431 fresh infections.

In the last 24 hours, 17,412 recoveries were reported while the number of active cases increased to 1,22,774, the bulletin said. Since Wednesday, 60,105 samples have been tested for COVID-19 in West Bengal.

(With Agency Inputs)