Coronavirus scare: East Coast Railway cancels 10 trains

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], Mar 19 : The East Coast Railway (EoCR) on Wednesday cancelled five pairs of trains (a total of 10 trains) and appealed to passengers to avoid non-essential travel due to the pandemic coronavirus.

"Due to Poor Patronisation, five pairs ( 10 trains) of trains running from various places over East Coast Railway have been cancelled," EoCR said in a statement.

A disinfection drive was also carried out at the Bhubaneswar Coaching Depot in Odisha as a precautionary measure against the spread of the virus.

According to the East Coast Railway (ECR) regular- analysis of the passenger ticket bookings is being done and more number of trains may be cancelled if required.

The cancelled trains include Puri-Howrah Bi-weekly Garib Rath Express from Puri, Howrah-Puri Bi-weekly Garib Rath Express from Howrah, Bhubaneswar-Dhanbad Tri-weekly Garib Rath Express from Bhubaneswar, Dhanbad-Bhubaneswar Garib Rath Express from Dhanbad, Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Duronto Express from Bhubaneswar, New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Duronto Express from New Delhi, Puri-Howrah Shatabdi Express from Puri, Howrah-Puri Shatabdi Express from Howrah, Tirupati-Visakhapatnam Express from Tirupati and Visakhapatnam-Tirupati Express from Visakhapatnam.

"Till now, one positive coronavirus case has been reported in Odisha. The person is doing well hopefully he will recover soon. Contacts of the case have been traced and advised home isolation," said Subroto Bagchi, Chief Spokesperson of Odisha Government.

According to official data, there has been one confirmed case of coronavirus in Odisha. The total number of confirmed cases of COVID infections climbed to 169.

( With inputs from ANI )