Telangana CM suggests screening of passengers at rly stations

Hyderabad, Mar 20 (PTI) Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday suggested screening of passengers at railway stations, among others, as measures to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Rao, who participated in a video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the steps to be taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19, said people from foreign countries come to metropolitan cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad in large numbers and that they need to be screened thoroughly.

More focus should be put on these cities and appropriate measures taken, an official press release quoted the chief minister as saying.

Since a large number of people in the country travel by rail, tests should be conducted at the railway stations, Rao said.

He said sanitation should be maintained thoroughly in railway coaches and at railway stations.

Rao said all measures have been taken in Telangana to prevent people from gathering in large numbers.

Celebrations for Sri Rama Navami on April 2 and Jagne Ki Raat on March 22 have been cancelled, he said.

The Chief Minister assured the Prime Minister that the state government would work with the Centre to stop spread of the coronavirus, the release said.

Rao appealed to Modi to utilise lab facilities at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad to conduct coronavirus tests.

The CCMB is under the Centres control, he said.

If an opportunity is given to conduct tests for the coronavirus, a thousand samples can be tested at one-go at the CCMB.

The Chief Minister brought this matter to the Prime Minister's notice, the release said.