New Delhi: The Telangana High Court has directed the state government to publish vital Covid-19 data on the front pages of all newspapers every day to make people aware about the rampant spread of the disease.
The order was issued Monday on a petition filed by Amrita Aryendra of Hyderabad who was aggrieved that a detailed bulletin on Covid-19 was no longer being published by the government ever since cases began rising in the state.
The PIL states that the government had issued daily media bulletins, containing detailed data, around mid-March when the viral illness just began to spread.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy said: “Therefore, this court directs the state not only publish the vital data mentioned hereinabove on the internet, but most importantly to have it published on the front pages of all the newspapers in the print media.
“For, it is imperative that people should be made aware of the fact that the pandemic is only increasing day in and day out.”
The order also states that it was essential to make people understand about precautions they needed to take in order to control the pandemic.
The case will next be heard on 18 June.
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‘Without data, people will take the disease lightly’
According to the petition, vital data should include the total number of samples tested and reports awaited, number of positive and active cases, of people cured, deaths, those quarantined and hotspots, district-wise distribution of cases, containment zones in every locality/ district/ city/ area/ mandal, details of comorbidity status among deaths, and list of government as well as private hospitals.
According to the court order, the petitioner’s lawyer, Qazi Salar Massod Aatif, had said that “until and unless the relevant data is collected, and publicised, the extent of the disease spreading through the population would continue to be unknown”.
Non publication of data, the petitioner submitted, would aggravate the Covid-19 crisis, since people will then start taking the disease lightly.
The court was informed by Dr Srinivasa Rao, director of the Telangana State Department of Public Health, Medical and Family Welfare, that data sought by the petitioner was available with the state government.
“According to him (Rao), it should not be difficult for the state to publish the said data on a daily basis,” the order noted.
The court, therefore, directed that Covid-19 data should be published in all newspapers.
Also read: Behind Telangana’s rising Covid numbers, low testing and violations of ICMR, HC orders