50% of SC staff test COVID positive, hearings switched to video mode

Fifty per cent of the staff of Supreme Court have tested positive for COVID-19, prompting the top court to ask judges to work from home and hold hearings through video conferencing, NDTV said.

According to the report, premises of the top court including courtrooms is being sanitised. However, on Monday, the hearings will be conducted an hour later than the scheduled time.

At least 44 employees working on the premises of apex court had tested positive for the virus on Saturday alone.

“Most of my staff and law clerks have tested positive,” a judge told NDTV.

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The development comes on a day the country recorded a largest daily high of 1,68,912 COVID-19 cases, which upped its tally to 1,35,27,717. It also coincides with second day of the Centre’s Tika Utsav, which aims to vaccinate all eligible beneficiaries against the virus.

The onset of the pandemic’s second wave in India has added about 10 lakh new cases in a span of a week. Monday was the sixth consecutive day when the country recorded more than a lakh cases.

While the Centre has instructed states to ramp up testing, tracing and treatment, many states which have begun imposing curbs have raised alarm over depleting vaccine reserves in the past week.