NEW DELHI: On fighting coronavirus, it is perhaps the most crucial phase for a country as biog as India and as populated as India.
With the number of infections rising every single day, Dr. T. Jacob John, the former head of the Indian Council for Medical Research's Centre for Advanced Research in Virology, has said that people should be prepared for the worst as "the number will be 10 times higher" by April 15.
"They are not understanding that this is an avalanche…As every week passes, the avalanche is growing bigger and bigger,” he said.
So far total infections in the country have touched 166. Three deaths have been reported so far.
Meanwhile the PM tweeted:
https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1239460598708154368
The deadly COVID-19, which has claimed over 5,000 lives across the world, is less than six months old, but to combat the pandemic, the Centre has invoked a 123-year-old Epidemic Diseases Act, which has been historically used to contain the spread of various diseases — swine flu, cholera, malaria and dengue.
Constitution experts say if the government believes a colonial-era law helps in containing the outbreak, then nothing is wrong in such a decision.
A decision was taken at a Cabinet Secretary meeting that states that Union Territories should invoke provisions of Section 2 of the Act, which will make the Health Ministry advisories enforceable.
The Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, which continues to find relevance in the outbreak of modern-day diseases in the country, is routinely enforced to restrain the outbreaks of diseases such as swine flu, dengue, and cholera.
Subhash Kashyap, Constitution expert and former Secretary General of the Lok Sabha, says there is nothing wrong if the government is willing to implement a colonial-era law as it still exists in the statute, and maybe the governments over the time did not see the necessity to amend the Act.
“The Law Commission usually advises the government on amendment to a law and its modern-day relevance. The current government has already repealed many laws, but has also retained some colonial-era laws”, said Kashyap.