KSRTC closes depot after a driver tests COVID-19 positive in Thiruvananthapuram

The Health Department gave direction to disinfect the rest room and the buses plied by the driver. All primary contacts of the 40-year-old driver have been asked to undergo quarantine.
For representational purposes (Photo | TP Sooraj, EPS)
For representational purposes (Photo | TP Sooraj, EPS)

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: KSRTC closed down its Pappanamcode depot in Thiruvananthapuram for two days after a driver attached to the depot was tested positive for Covid-19 thereby sending around 50 employees in quarantine.

The Health Department gave direction to disinfect the rest room and the buses plied by the driver.

All primary contacts of the 40-year-old driver have been asked to undergo quarantine.

All of them will be tested for Covid-19 in the next five days, says Dr Gayathri LK, Covid Investigation Officer in-charge in DMO Office, Thiruvananthapuram.

According to her the areas where the bus plied in the previous days should be put on high alert to identify any potential symptomatic travellers.

The employees at the depot staged a protest for not taking any preventive steps and refused to work on Wednesday.

The driver came from Thrissur where he was deployed to ferry people coming from outside at the railway station to the quarantine centres.

He also drove a bus that transported people to Tamil Nadu border.

He retuned to his Home Depot at Pappanamcode and worked for five days before developing symptoms of Covid-19.  

The health department is trying to trace out people travelled in his bus at Thrissur. They will be identified and tested after seven days of observation.

The KSRTC depot at Kattakada in Thiruvananthapuram was also closed on June 16 after the panchayat was declared a hotspot.

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