COVID-19: Kerala Police 'rescue mission' brings car from Coimbatore to Palakkad

Kerala Police's COVID-19 'rescue mission' brings car from Coimbatore to Palakkad

Walayar: In a curious incident, the Kerala Police, which is engaged in protecting the lives of the people during the COVID-19 lockdown, carried out a task of saving a car parked at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. The car was later handed over to the owner, who is based at Palakkad in Kerala, after disinfecting it twice.

The car had been used by the children of a man from Palakkad, who had succumbed to COVID-19 at a hospital in Coimbatore. The man had been admitted to the Coimbatore hospital for some other diseases on April 3 but had died on April 10. In the meantime, tests had revealed that he was COVID-19 positive and the last rites were held at Coimbatore as per the instructions of the Health Department.

After the funeral, the man's relatives started their return journey to Palakkad in the particular car but were blocked by the police at the inter-state border in Walayar. The passengers subsequently took the car back to Coimbatore, parked it near the city and travelled to Palakkad in an ambulance arranged by the police. In Palakkad, they were kept under observation at the District Hospital.

Tests later showed that the passengers in the car had no COVID-19. However, the car still remained at Coimbatore. Requests to the Tamil Nadu police to bring the car to Palakkad evoked no response as the police in the neighbouring state was reluctant to handle the vehicle owing to fears of contacting COVID-19. In fact, the Tamil Nadu police ordered that the car should not be opened anywhere in Coimbatore.

Left with no other option to bring the car to Palakkad, a team of the Kerala Police launched a rescue mission along with personnel from the Health Department and Fire and Rescue Services. They initially disinfected the car at Coimbatore, brought the car to Palakkad and again cleaned it thoroughly before handing over the vehicle to the owner.

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