Virus variants: HC asks State, Centre to impose new measures

A first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy observed a plea on quarantining all international passengers landing in the country to prevent the spread of the new strain of COVID-19 that had emerged in the UK. 

On recording the submission of the Additional Solicitor General R Sankaranarayanan that the Centre has come up with revised SOPs through the Ministry of Home Affairs on February 17, 2021 for those travelling from Brazil, South Africa and the UK, the bench led by the Chief Justice expressed apprehension over the local variant gaining strong grounds in Maharashtra. 

However, unwilling to issue any directions in this regard to refrain from adding up to the confusion and such orders usually become an impediment in handling the situation in the light of diverse strains of COVID being discovered, the Chief Justice said “The home-grown variants of the virus being found in Amravati and Akola in Maharashtra are not too far away. The Centre and State should be on guard and take appropriate measures to safeguard the health of the citizens by imposing new measures or rolling back the opening of normal life.”