Passengers to undergo thermal screening at railway stations:

The Tamil Nadu government has drawn up plans to conduct thermal screening of passengers at railway stations following the coronavirus threat, Health Minister C Vijayabhaskar said on Tuesday.

The government's only plea to the people was to avoid travelling unless necessary, he said.

Talking to reporters after reviewing precautionary measures at the central railway station here, he said thermal screening would be taken up in association with railway police and health department staff as part of an awareness campaign.

Vijayabhaskar said Southern Railway officials have informed him that special trains operating from Chennai were cancelled in view of the coronavirus scare.

"..Railway police will take up thermal screening inside the train.We have planned like that," he said, adding railay police and staff would undergo orientation programme at Madras Medical College in this connection.

He said nursing students at MMC would also be working on three shifts as part of awareness campaign at railway stations.

To a query, he said 1,84,860 passengers were screened at the airport till date and 147 samples taken for testing and only one case tested positive on March 7.

The 45-year-old man has recovered and will be discharged soon from the government hospital here, the minister said.

Appealing to the people not to panic, he said those people who have travel history of visiting the virus affected countries and those who have symptoms of cold, cough and breathlessness need to undergo tests for COVID-19.

The minister said the government has received the Centre's nod for setting up testing centres at Tiruvarur, Theni and Tirunelveli.

The lab at the government hospital would also begin testing samples for COVID-19 virus, he said.

The Southern Railway said it has taken several precautionary measures in the wake of the virus outbreak.

Various advisories have been issued by the union government such as avoidance of non-essential travel and mass gathering.

In view of this, to reduce the number of non-travellers at stations, Chennai division has increased the rate of platform tickets at Chennai Central, Chennai Egmore and Tambaram Railway Stations from Rs 10 to Rs 50 with immediate effect till March 31, a release added.