Railway officer’s blunder puts 62 persons at coronavirus risk

A railway officer, who accommodated her son returning from Germany in an officers’ rest house in Bengaluru for four days, has been suspended as her son tested positive to Covid-19 on Monday. The blunder has put 62 persons at risk of infection.

Officials said following a request, the assistant personnel officer in Bengaluru Division was allotted a rest house accommodation for her family. “Her son came from Germany via Madrid (Spain) to KSR Bengaluru and stayed in Maple Rest House from Friday to Monday. He himself went for a check-up at a hospital on Monday and was tested positive (to Covid-19) on Wednesday late evening,” SWR chief public relations officer E Vijaya said.

The Maple Rest House has 16 rooms. Over the course of four days of her son’s stay, a total of 62 occupants and staffers had stayed or worked in the house. “Sometimes people stay for a day and vacate, allowing others to use the lodging facility,” another official said adding that about five to seven staffers work in the rest house.

“As a preventive measure, the rest house has now been closed and the cleaning staff are kept under quarantine. All the officers and families that stayed in the rest house are informed to be on the look out and be on alert for symptoms, if any. Details of people who stayed have been shared with the state government,” a senior official said.

An order suspending the officer was issued on Thursday with officials stating that disciplinary proceedings have been initiated. Her error brought unnecessary pressure on the railways and government officials who scrambled to trace the number of people who may have come in contact with those staying in the rest house as well as the staffers and their family.