Situation in Delhi horrendous, says SC, slams drop in testing

New Delhi, June 12: The Supreme Court on Friday termed the situation in Delhi "horrendous" as it slammed the fall in testing compared to cities such as Mumbai amid a rising number of Covid-19 cases in the Capital.

A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, S K Kaul and M R Shah questioned the Delhi government on fewer COVID-19 tests being conducted and asked, "Why has your testing gone down from 7,000 to 5,000 a day".

"It is a horrendous situation. Worse than animals people are being treated," the court said.

The court added that the handling of dead bodies reflected a sorry state of affairs and in many cases, patients' families aren't even informed about deaths and haven't been able to attend the last rites too in some cases.

Reports have been appearing in the media on alleged improper handling of COVID-19 patients and bodies of the victims in hospitals.

Earlier, former law minister and senior Congress leader Ashwani Kumar had written to the CJI citing reports that bodies of COVID-19 patients were piling up in hospitals and mortuaries and had urged him to take up the matter suo motu to ensure the right to die with dignity is not violated.

"Since the court has the duty and the power to ensure that the law declared by it is actually enforced, it is requested that the court takes suo-motu notice of the matter," the letter said.