JOIN USTamil Nadu: Covid-19 patients in bus, other passengers run helter-skelter
All hell broke loose on board a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) bus in Cuddalore district on Monday after it emerged that two of the passengers have tested positive for novel coronavirus.
As the conductor broke the news in panic, other passengers deboarded the bus and ran helter-skelter. The driver and conductor also panicked, while the couple waited for Health Department officials to come and take them for treatment.
The bizarre incident took place in Cuddalore district on Monday after a 57-year-old man and his wife, who gave their swab samples on Saturday, got to know that they have tested positive for Covid-19 while travelling from Panruti to Vadalur in the same district.
The couple had jumped quarantine and decided to visit their relatives. However, their journey was cut-short after they got a call from officials on their test results.
“The man is a TB patient and was discharged from a hospital only on Sunday. Ignoring the advice to be under home quarantine, he and his wife locked their house and went out. When officials from the department went to their residence to convey the news, they found the house locked,” an official said.
The officials then made a call to the 57-year-old man’s mobile phone to convey that he and his wife have tested positive for Coronavirus. “As the man panicked, the official on the other line asked the patient to give the phone to the conductor. When the official conveyed the news to the conductor, he got panicked and screamed inside the bus which had by then come to a halt,” the official said.
On hearing that they travelled with Covid-19 positive people, passengers who were about 15 in number ran helter-skelter. After a few minutes, health officials came to the spot and took the couple in an ambulance.
Officials said while the driver and conductor of the bus were taken for testing, the bus was also immediately disinfected.
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