New Delhi: According to the Supreme Court Bar Association, 150 staff of the Supreme Court have been found to be corona positive and for this reason, a helpline will be started for the staff from Monday. Four judges of the Supreme Court and about five percent of the staff have been infected with Covid-19 amid a sharp increase in the cases of coronavirus in the national capital Delhi.
An apex court official said that at least four out of 32 judges of the apex court and 150 out of around 3,000 employees are currently infected with the virus. According to the data updated by the Union Health Ministry in the country on Sunday, 1,59,632 new cases of coronavirus infection were reported in a day, which is the highest daily cases reported in the last 224 days.
The number of patients under treatment in the country has increased to 5,90,611, which is the highest in about 197 days. The COVID-19 testing facility has been set up in the premises of the apex court and remains open from Monday to Saturday.
A circular said, “In view of the containment of the spread of the highly contagious form of Coronavirus and the sudden increase in its cases, it is reiterated that those entering the Supreme Court premises, i.e. Registry staff, employees of coordinating agencies, advocates, etc. and their employees, etc., especially those who have symptoms similar to those notified for COVID-19 infection(s), may kindly get themselves tested at this facility…”
On January 2, the top court had decided to conduct all hearings digitally for two weeks from January 3 in view of the increasing number of infection cases.
