An outdated law ignores health workers' well-being amid Covid-19 pandemic

The pandemic has also exposed the lack of documentation of the state of doctors and paramedics

Circa 1896. Bubonic plague spreads like wildfire in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) leading to about 1,900 deaths a week for the remainder of the year. The Epidemic Diseases Act (EDA) is enacted in 1897 to empower the government to tackle the crisis.

Used to combat the spread of cholera in a Gujarat region (in 2018), deal with dengue and malaria in Chandigarh (2015) and control swine flu in Pune (2009), this British-era legislation is now being used, along with some provisions of the Disaster Management Act, to deal with the coronavirus pandemic in India. Practically unchanged in 124 years, the EDA