The Telangana High Court, on Wednesday, said that the intentions of the State government to check COVID-19 were good but required to be reflected in actions.
Hearing a batch of PIL pleas on COVID-19 related matters, a Bench of Acting Chief Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao and Justice T. Vinod Kumar told Director of Public Health (DPH) Dr. Srinivasa Rao that preparedness of the State was crucial in the event of a possible third wave.
“Anticipate possible problems, prepare an action plan and implement it,” the Acting CJ told the DPH who appeared for the hearing in virtual mode.
If the government did not anticipate problems arising out of a possible third wave, the court would be compelled to step in, the Bench said. “We must be on the watch...once virus starts spreading, you will not have time to even blink,” he observed.
The Bench added that the government should have learnt lessons from the situations and consequences of the second wave in April. The government should realise children would be the most vulnerable group if third wave of the virus hits since they are not yet vaccinated, it noted.
When Dr. Srinivasa Rao said that Rapid Antigen Tests were equally useful in assessing the spread of the virus, the Acting CJ differed. “I will not agree with you. If a person tests negative in antigen test, there is a possibility that he would test positive in RT-PCR test...so enhance RT-PCR tests,” he said. In the backdrop of likely massive congregations due to Ganesh festival and reopening of schools, there was a likelihood of spike in positive cases.
Many schoolchildren got affected in Khammam district. In this backdrop, it was important that the government stepped up infrastructure in all government hospitals for children. It cannot depend solely on Niloufer Hospital for treating children, the Bench said.
It instructed the government to file an affidavit explaining the colour coded graded response action plan to tackle COVID-19 in the State. It directed the government to explain what steps were taken over the findings of the report given by the expert committee on tackling coronavirus.
