Covid-19 is a widespread epidemic, and also a declared disaster in India. The Government has the power to1 take measures and prescribe regulations to:
- Prevent the spread of a dangerous epidemic disease like Covid-19.
- Inspect any ship or vessel leaving or arriving in any port.
- Detain any person planning to leave or arrive in India.
The Government also declared Covid-19 as a “Notified Disaster” under the law on disaster management, which plays in role in(( Section 2(3), Disaster Management Act, 2005)):
- Preventing any danger or threat of any disaster
- Mitigating or reducing the risk of any disaster, its severity or consequences
- Capacity-building and preparedness to deal with any disaster
- Providing a prompt response to any threatening disaster situation
- Assessing the severity or magnitude of effects of any disaster.
- Section 2, Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 [↩]