Punjab government brings ordinance for prevention of infectious diseases

To deal with lock down violations in Punjab, the Punjab government has imposed heavy fines and in extreme cases imprisonment and empowered government machinery to take stern actions against violators under The Punjab Infectious Diseases Prevention and Control Ordinance 2020.
Since the Punjab Assembly is not in session and it is necessary to take immediate action to control movement of people and thus spread of the virus, the Punjab government decided to promulgate the ordinance. Under the new law, if a person commits an offence or fails without reasonable excuse to comply with any direction, reasonable instruction, duty, requirement or restriction imposed upon him will be punished with an imprisonment for a term not exceeding two months and a fine not exceeding Rs 50,000 or both on first offence.
Moreover, a person guilty of a repeat offence under this law, shall, on conviction be punished with an imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months and fine not exceeding Rs 100,000 or both. If the offence is committed by a body corporate, the fine for a first offence shall not be less than Rs 50,000 and not exceed rupees Rs 200,000 and the fine for a repeat offence shall not be less than Rs 100,000 and shall not exceed Rs 300,000.
Meanwhile, under the ordinance the Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Secretary has power to impose duties upon all registered medical practitioners and health facilities to record and notify and treat cases of infection or contamination.
The ordinance also imposes several general restrictions and requirements, including: a person shall submit to a specified medical examination and submit results; be disinfected or decontaminated; wear specified protective clothing; attend training or advisory sessions on how to reduce the risk of infecting or contaminating others; be subject to one or more restrictions as to where he may go or with whom he may maintains contact; and abstain from working or trading.
It also empowers the secretary to impose a specific or general requirement upon persons who have responsibility for a minor that the minor shall be kept away from school; and to impose a specific or general restriction or requirement relating to the handling, transport, burial or cremation of dead bodies or the handling, transport or disposal of human remains. Deputy Commissioners have also been empowered to take such steps or pass such orders as they consider necessary.
The ordinance also allows the secretary to prohibit or impose restriction on events and gatherings wherein the secretary is satisfied that the incidence or transmission of an infectious disease is at such a stage that it is necessary to do so to prevent, delay or otherwise control its further transfer.
It also empowers administration to close or restrict entry, departure and location in premises. The secretary may issue directions prohibiting, or imposing one or more requirements or restrictions in relation to the entry into, departure from, or location of persons in a premise for a specified period.
The ordinance has provisions of removal and retention of potentially infectious person to a place suitable for screening and assessment. A notified medical officer may, after having informed a potentially infectious person of the reasons for doing so, direct him to forthwith proceed to a specified place which is suitable for screening and assessment and remain there for a period mentioned under the law: where a potentially infectious person fails to follow a direction under the law, the notified medical officer may remove him to the specified place, or direct a police officer to remove him to the specified place. After making a review, the notified medical officer may discontinue retention if he considers that the retained person is no longer potentially infectious or contaminated; or extend the period of retention if he considers that the person will be potentially infectious at the end of that period.
The ordinance also impose duty on every person (including head of a family, a health care provider, in-charge of an educational institute, in-charge of a public transport, hotel, restaurant, work place or other public facility, and in-charge of a place of worship) to report a person (under his care, supervision or control) suffering from an infectious disease or is contaminated to a notified medical officer immediately.