Monitor train passengers from Kerala, demand Goa MLAs

Panaji, Feb 4 (IANS) Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat on Tuesday urged State Health Minister Vishwajit Rane to take adequate precautions and install mechanisms to screen movement of people from Kerala to Goa, in order to keep the coronavirus spread at bay."There is a need to take precautions against the coronavirus. Few people come from China to Goa, but there is a lot of movement of people coming from Kerala to Goa," Kamat told the state Assembly, during a discussion on the precautions which need to be taken in the state.Former Chief Minister Churchill Alemao also urged Rane to set up screening mechanisms at various railway stations in Goa to screen passengers from Kerala."There are a lot of people moving between Kerala and Goa in trains. We have asked the Government of India to give Goa thermal scanners," State Health Minister Rane said, while responding to the concerns expressed by the MLAs.Three coronavirus patients have been detected in Kerala over the last few days, even as the Southern state has declared the disease as a state calamity.As of now five persons, including two tourists who had travelled from China, have been kept in the isolation ward of a state government hospital, following suspicion of their being affected by the virus. Two of the suspect patients were released after their tests proved negative.
--IANS maya/dpb/bg