The Supreme Court on Friday directed all the states to carry out fire safety audit of dedicated COVID-19 hospitals across the country to prevent fire incidents in medical institutions. The apex court also directed dedicated COVID-19 hospitals to take a no objection certificate (NOC) from the fire department within four weeks and said that failure to do so will invite punitive action. A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan said that those hospitals, whose fire NOC has expired, will have to get it renewed within four weeks. The bench, also comprising justices R S Reddy and M R Shah, said that issue of political rallies and observance of COVID-19 guidelines will be looked into by the Election Commission. The apex court had earlier taken cognisance of a fire incident in a designated COVID-19 hospital in Gujarat’s Rajkot in which several patients had died.
