A railway official in Bengaluru has been suspended for hiding her son, who returned from abroad and later tested positive for coronavirus or COVID 19, officials said on Friday.

The officer allegedly concealed the travel history of her son; the 25-year-old had returned from Spain.

The woman, an Assistant Personnel Officer, also booked her son into a room in the Guest House of the Railway Colony near the main Bangalore railway station, said South Western Railway.

She “endangered the lives of others” by lodging him in the railway rest house, railway spokesperson E Vijaya told the Press Trust of India.

“She virtually hid her son to protect her family but endangered all of us,” a South Western Railway official said.

The son has been admitted to hospital. He had been instructed to home quarantine himself after he landed at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru on March 13. Five days later, he tested positive for COVID-19.

“The son of railway official had returned from Spain. She was posted in Bangalore. The guest House in Bangalore was quarantined and people  – who came in contact with him – have been sent to home quarantine after primary check- up,” a senior official told NDTV.

Sixteen coronavirus cases, including one death, have been reported in Karnataka. Nearly 100 people are in isolation at hospitals across the state. More than half of them are being monitored at Bengaluru.

Across India, the number of coronavirus cases has climbed to nearly 200. Four people have died.