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Powers of Director and Health Officers in dealing with outbreaks and suspected outbreaks of infectious diseases

Infectious Diseases Act 1976

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—(1) For the purpose of investigating into any outbreak or suspected outbreak of an infectious disease or for the purpose of preventing the spread or possible outbreak of an infectious disease, the Director or any Health Officer authorised by the Director may —(a)at any time without warrant and with such force as may be necessary —(i)enter, inspect and search any premises; or(ii)stop, board, inspect and search any conveyance,in which the outbreak or suspected outbreak has taken place;(b)take samples of any substance or matter, wherever found, if the Director or Health Officer has reason to believe that the substance or matter is the cause of, is contributory to or is otherwise connected with, the occurrence of the outbreak or suspected outbreak, and send those samples for such test, examination or analysis as the Director or Health Officer may consider necessary or expedient;(c)seize any substance or matter, wherever found, if the Director or Health Officer has reason to believe that that substance or matter is the cause of, is contributory to or is otherwise connected with, the occurrence of the outbreak or suspected outbreak;(d)require any person to destroy any food in the person’s possession which the Director or Health Officer has reason to believe is the cause of, is contributory to or is otherwise connected with, the occurrence of the outbreak or suspected outbreak;(e)require any person —(i)to furnish any information within the person’s knowledge; or(ii)to produce any book, document or other record which may be in the person’s custody or possession for inspection by the Director or Health Officer and the making of copies thereof, or to provide the Director or Health Officer with copies of such book, document or other record,within such time and in such form or manner as the Director or Health Officer may specify and may, if necessary, further require the person to attend at a specified time and place for the purposes of complying with sub‑paragraph (i) or (ii);(f)require, by written notice, any person who is, or is suspected to be, a case or carrier or contact of an infectious disease to submit to medical examination and have his or her blood or other body sample taken for examination within or at such time, and at such place, as may be specified in the notice, and to undergo such treatment as may be necessary;(g)subject to subsection (5), order the closure or cordoning off of any public place in which the outbreak or suspected outbreak, or the transmission or suspected transmission, of an infectious disease has taken place;(h)subject to subsections (6) and (7), requisition, for such period as the Director or Health Officer thinks necessary —(i)any premises which, in his or her opinion, is suitable for the isolation and treatment of persons who are, or are reasonably suspected to be, cases or carriers or contacts of the infectious disease; and(ii)any conveyance which, in his or her opinion, is suitable and necessary for use in connection with the prevention of the spread or possible outbreak of the infectious disease; and(i)by order prohibit or restrict the movement of persons, animals and conveyances into, within or out of any public place mentioned in paragraph (g) or any premises mentioned in paragraph (h)(i).(2) Where the Director or Health Officer seizes any substance or matter under subsection (1)(c) —(a)the Director or Health Officer must immediately give written notice of the seizure to the owner of, or to the person from whom, the substance or matter was seized and may —(i)direct that the substance or matter under seizure be kept or stored in the premises or conveyance where it was seized or be removed to any other place to be kept or stored there; or(ii)dispose of the substance or matter immediately if the Director or Health Officer is of the view that the substance or matter is decayed, putrefied or deleterious to health; and(b)any person aggrieved by the seizure may, within 48 hours after the seizure, complain to a Magistrate’s Court and the Magistrate’s Court may —(i)confirm the seizure wholly or in part;(ii)disallow the seizure wholly or in part;(iii)order that any substance or matter that has been seized be returned to its owner, subject to any condition which the Court may think fit to impose to ensure that the substance or matter is preserved for any purpose for which it may subsequently be required; or(iv)order payment to be made to the owner of or person entitled to the substance or matter seized of such amount as the Court considers reasonable compensation to the owner or person for any loss or depreciation resulting from the seizure.(3) Where —(a)no complaint is received by the Magistrate’s Court within 48 hours of the seizure under subsection (2)(b); or(b)the Magistrate’s Court confirms the seizure under subsection (2)(b)(i),the substance or matter seized in its entirety or to the extent to which its seizure was confirmed by the Magistrate’s Court (as the case may be) becomes the property of the Government and must be disposed of in the manner that the Director thinks fit.(4) A person must comply with a requirement under subsection (1)(e) to disclose information or produce documents to the Director despite any restriction on the disclosure of the information or documents imposed by any written law, rule of law, rule of professional conduct or contract; and the person must not by so doing be treated as being in breach of any such restriction despite anything to the contrary in that law, rule or contract.(5) The power referred to in subsection (1)(g) does not apply in respect of any public place where the power to order the closure or cordoning off of such public place in the same circumstances has been conferred by any other written law on some other public officer or statutory body.(6) Any premises that are unoccupied may be requisitioned under subsection (1)(h) without notice being given to the owner of the premises, but premises that are occupied must not be so requisitioned unless a written notice has been served on the owner or occupier or posted in a conspicuous position at those premises.(7) Where any premises or conveyance is requisitioned under subsection (1)(h), the owner or occupier of the premises or the owner or person having control and possession of the conveyance is entitled to a reasonable compensation for the occupation of the premises during the period of requisition, or for the use and detention of the conveyance, as the case may be.(8) Any person who fails to comply with any requirement or order made by the Director or a Health Officer under subsection (1)(d), (e), (f), (g) or (i) shall be guilty of an offence.(9) For the purposes of subsection (1)(e), where any document or record required by the Director or a Health Officer is kept in electronic form, then —(a)the power of the Director or Health Officer to require the document or record to be produced for inspection includes the power to require a copy of the document or record to be made available for inspection in legible form; and(b)the power of the Director or Health Officer to inspect the document or record includes the power to require any person on the premises in question to give the Director or Health Officer such assistance as the Director or Health Officer may reasonably require to enable him or her to inspect and make copies of the document or record in legible form or to make records of the information contained in the document or record.

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