SC directs Centre to ban Covid-19 disinfection tunnels

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Centre to ban within a month the use and installation of disinfection tunnels involving spraying or fumigation of chemicals on people at workplaces and public places due to its harmful effects.

A bench presided over by Justice Ashok Bhushan directed the Union government to issue necessary directions within a month without waiting for the 29th day of the month.

The court passed its directions in a judgement delivered on a PIL by Gursimran Singh Narula, a final year student from Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law, IIT Kharagpur.

In September, the Centre had told the court that it has not issued any guidelines for using and installing disinfection tunnels in an effort to contain Covid-19 pandemic. It had agreed that a direction could be issued to ban it.

Spraying disinfectants, even outdoors, can be harmful to human health, it maintained.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that using disinfection tunnel was clinically and psychologically harmful.

The bench, also comprising Justices R Subhash Reddy and M R Shah, had then asked the law officer if it was bad then why the Centre had not banned it. To this, Mehta said appropriate directions and circular would be issued in this regard.

In an affidavit, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on June 9 that an expert committee meeting under the chairmanship of Directorate General of Health Services was held to review the use of disinfectant tunnels, use of various chemicals, spraying and its efficacy.

"It was reiterated that spraying of the individuals with the disinfectants, such as tunnels, cabinets and chambers etc is not recommended as it would not diminish the infected person's ability to spread the virus through droplets or contacts," it said.

It is also not recommended in healthcare and non-healthcare settings.

"If disinfectant was to be applied in indoor spaces, this should be done with a cloth or wipe that has been soaked in disinfectant," it said.

The Union government said spraying and fumigation of outdoor spaces such as streets and marketplaces are also not recommended to kill Covid-19 virus or other pathogens because disinfectant is inactivated by dirt and debris.