COVID-19 spike: Gujarat HC suggests lockdown for short period
The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday said the COVID-19 situation in Gujarat was getting "out of control," and suggested a curfew or lockdown could be imposed for three to four days to break the infection chain. Chief Justice Vikram Nath said the COVID-19 situation "is going from bad to worse and getting out of control" in Gujarat, with over 3,000 cases emerging on Monday.
Lockdown is needed to curb spread of virus, Bench stated
Hearing a petition taken up suo motu (on its own) regarding the COVID-19 situation, a division bench of Chief Justice Nath and Justice Bhargav Karia said such a lockdown or curfew is needed to curb the spread of the virus.
Gatherings, including political functions should be controlled or stopped: Nath
Nath suggested that all kinds of gatherings, including political functions, should be controlled or stopped. "Urgent and serious steps need to be taken to check this. Otherwise, the COVID-19 situation will go out of hand," he said. "Maybe three-four days of curfew or lockdown can be imposed to check the situation at the moment," Chief Justice Nath said during an online hearing.
Night curfew imposed in four Gujarat cities proving ineffective: Nath
Advocate General Kamal Trivedi informed the bench that the state government was in a Catch-22 situation about the lockdown. Nath further noted that the night curfew, imposed from 9 pm to 6 am in four major cities of Gujarat, was not proving to be effective.
Number of employees coming to offices should be limited
"You can always open it after three-four days. But, this curfew will help, I think. Like, initially in March 2020, there was a curfew for two days, three days," Nath said. To break the infection chain, Justice Karia suggested that government should limit the number of employees coming to offices or commercial establishments so that fewer people come in contact with each other.
Government is in a 'Catch-22' situation: Advocate General
Trivedi said he will take instructions from the state government and revert. "Day before yesterday, the government was seriously thinking about imposing a lockdown. But, there were views that a lockdown is likely to cause misery to the poor people," the Advocate General said. "So, the government is in a Catch-22 situation. We are trying our level best," he informed the bench.
