Consider Imposing Lockdown To Curb 2nd Wave Of COVID-19 In Public Interest: SC To Govt
Mumbai: The Supreme Court on Sunday said that the Centre and the state governments may consider imposing a lockdown to curb coronavirus in the second wave in the interest of public welfare.
It directed the Central Government to re-issue its initiatives and protocols, including the availability of oxygen, availability and pricing of vaccines and availability of essential medicines at affordable prices.
A three-member apex court bench of Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice L Nageswara Rao and Justice Ravindra Bhat said, “We are cognizant of the socio-economic impact of a lockdown, specifically, on the marginalized communities… thus, in case the measure of a lockdown is imposed, arrangements must be made beforehand to cater to the needs of these communities.”
Further, the apex court asked the Center to formulate a national policy on admission to hospitals in view of the second wave of COVID-19 within two weeks and said no patient shall be denied hospitalisation or essential drugs in any state for lack of local residential proof.
The Supreme Court’s observation comes as India continues to reel under the second wave of coronavirus. The country has been recording over 3 lakh cases for the past few weeks.
In the last 24 hours, it reported over 3.68 fresh COVID-19 cases. The 3,68,147 new infections take active COVID cases in India to 34,13,642. Meanwhile, 3,417 people died due to coronavirus, taking the total death toll in India from the pandemic to 2,18,959.
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