Covid-19: UP moots ordinance to deal with cases of attacks on doctors, cops

Under the central ordinance to amend the Act, the attack on a health workers is a cognisable and non-bailable offence.

Days after the Centre brought an ordinance providing for an imprisonment of up to seven years for those attacking Covid-19 health workers, the Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday mooted a similar legislation with respect to the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897.

In the past four to five weeks, the state has seen several instances of individual and mob attacks on doctors, health workers and police personnel on Covid-19 prevention duty.

Even as the Yogi Adityanath-led UP government had earlier announced it would deal with a firm hand in such cases, including with the slapping of the National Security Act (NSA) against those found