To amend and consolidate the law for preventing the introduction into and spread in the Colony and the transmission from the Colony, of infectious diseases
Part I Preliminary
1 Short title [see Note 1]
This Ordinance may be cited as the Quarantine and Prevention of Disease Ordinance.
2 Interpretation
In this Ordinance, unless there is something repugnant in the subject or context:
animals includes horses, asses, mules, cattle, dogs, sheep, goats and swine and any kind of four-footed beast.
building means any house, hut, shed or roofed enclosure, whether intended for the purpose of human habitation or otherwise, and any wall, gate, post, pillar, paling, frame, hoarding, slip, dock, wharf, pier, jetty, landing-stage or bridge.
carcase means the carcase of an animal, and includes part of a carcase and the meat, bones, hide, skin, hoofs, horns, offal or other part of an animal, separately or otherwise, or any portion thereof.
cattle means bulls, cows, oxen, buffaloes, heifers and calves.
Chief Veterinary Officer means the officer for the time being performing the duties of Chief Veterinary Officer.
contact means any person or animal who or which has been exposed to the risk of contracting an infectious disease.
crew includes any person who is not on board for the sole purpose of travelling from one place to another but who is employed in some way in the ship’s service or in connection with the cargo.
dairy means any farm, farm-house, cowshed, milk-store, milk‑shop or other place from which milk is supplied or in which milk is kept for the purpose of sale.
dangerous infectious disease means any of the following diseases: — small-pox, cholera, plague, yellow fever, typhus and any other disease which the Administrator, by notification in the Gazette, declares to be included within the said expression.
day means an interval of 24 hours.
disease means any disease of an infectious or contagious nature.
diseased means affected with disease.
disinfection means the destruction or removal of the cause of an infectious disease, and includes the taking of any reasonable and appropriate measures to render a germ carrier free from infection.
district means the district of any local authority under this Ordinance.
fodder means grass or other substance commonly used for food for animals.
foyer means the condition which exists when the occurrence of new cases outside the immediate surroundings of the first case proves that the spread of the disease has not been limited to the place where it began.
Health Officer means the officer for the time being performing the duties of Health Officer, Deputy Health Officer or Assistant Health Officer to the City Council or of Health Officer in a Rural District or of Medical or Health Officer in charge of a quarantine station, and includes any person authorized in writing by such officer to act as his deputy or assistant.
immigrant means:
(a) any person, not being a first or second class passenger, arriving in the waters of the Colony in a ship, with the intention of landing in the Colony;
(b) any person arriving at any local area in the Colony as a third class passenger in a train;
(c) any person arriving at any local area in the Colony on foot, in a bullock-cart, hired gharri, hired motor-car, motor-bus or motor-lorry;
(d) if the Health Officer or Port Health Officer so directs, any person who arrives from an infected or suspected local area.
infected means affected with an infectious disease.
infected local area means any local area which has been declared by notification in the Gazette to be an infected local area from the date of such declaration until the date of the withdrawal of such declaration in the Gazette or until the date it is declared to be a suspected local area.
infectious disease means any of the following diseases: — anthrax, cerebro-spinal fever, chicken-pox, cholera, diphtheria, enteric fever, erysipelas, leprosy, plague, puerperal fever, scarlet fever, small-pox, tuberculosis, typhus, yellow fever and any other disease which the Administrator, by notification in the Gazette, declares to be included within the said expression.
local area means any territory or territorial division the limits of which are capable of accurate definition.
local authority means:
(a) in respect of any place (other than a sanitary aerodrome) within the limits of the City, the City Council; and
(b) in respect of any place (other than a sanitary aerodrome) within the limits of the Rural Board area created under the Municipal Ordinance, the Rural Board; and
(c) in the case of any sanitary aerodrome, the Director of Medical Services; and
(d) in all other cases, the Chief Secretary.
litter means straw or other substance commonly used for bedding or otherwise for or about animals.
master means the master, officer or other person for the time being in charge of any ship.
medical practitioner means a medical practitioner registered under the Medical Registration Ordinance.
observation means the isolation of a person at a quarantine station or at such other place as the Health Officer or Port Health Officer may direct, before such person receives free pratique.
parent includes the father and mother of a legitimate child and the mother of an illegitimate child.
pilgrim means a Muslim passenger of any age or of either sex, journeying or about to journey from any port in the Colony to any port in the Red Sea, or in the Gulf of Aden or in the Arabian Sea, except ports in India or Pakistan, with a view to the pilgrimage to the Hedjaz, or returning from such journey.
port means any town built by the sea or having water access to the sea, and includes any district surrounding such town.
Port Health Officer means any person so appointed by the Minister, either by name or office, and includes all his deputies or assistants.
pratique means, in the case of a ship, the permission or licence granted to that ship to hold intercourse with a port; and, in the case of a person, the permission or licence granted to that person conferring upon him freedom from observation.
prescribed case means:
(a) a case of a dangerous infectious disease originating in a quarantine station or a closed public institution;
(b) an imported case which has been immediately isolated in a quarantine station; or
(c) a case occurring in a new arrival during the period of his quarantine surveillance.
President means, in the case of the City, the officer for the time being lawfully performing the duties of the office of President of the City Council, in the case of a Rural District, the person or officer of the Rural Board invested with all or any of the duties, powers, discretions and authorities, which are by the Municipal Ordinance imposed on, conferred upon and exercisable by the President of the City Council, and in other cases, the Chief Secretary.
quarantine means the compulsory detention in isolation for the purpose and under the provisions of this Ordinance or of the rules made thereunder of any ship, person, animal or thing, so that there shall be no communication or traffic with any other ship, person, animal or thing, or with any building or place except in accordance with this Ordinance or the rules made thereunder.
quarantine anchorage includes any anchorage or moorings or landing place for a ship.
quarantine station means any island, building or place where quarantine is carried out, and includes an examination station, a hulk and a Government infectious diseases hospital.
rat means any rodent, and includes any animal known to be a means of spreading plague.
ship includes any vessel or craft which may be used in navigation by water.
surveillance means that persons are not isolated, that they receive free pratique immediately, but the authorities at the several places whither they are bound are informed of their coming, and they are subjected to a medical examination with a view to ascertaining their state of health.
suspected local area means any local area which has been declared by notification in the Gazette to be a suspected local area from the date of such declaration until the date of the withdrawal of such declaration in the Gazette.
vaccination means the introduction of a specific virus into the system with the object of conferring immunity against disease and includes vaccination against small-pox.
vaccination against small-pox means inoculation with the virus of cow-pox for the purpose of conferring protection against infection with small-pox.
Veterinary Authority means the Chief Veterinary Officer and includes any person authorized in writing by the Chief Veterinary Officer to act as a Veterinary Authority under this Ordinance.
Part V Prevention of the introduction or transmission of infectious disease
General
59 Entering the Colony
For the purposes of this Ordinance and the rules made thereunder, landing at or entering a quarantine station under the instructions of a Port Health Officer or Health Officer shall not be deemed to be landing in or entering the Colony.
60 Surveillance and observation
(1) Where it is provided by this Ordinance or any rule made thereunder that a person may be subjected to surveillance, the Port Health Officer or Health Officer may direct that any person who fails to give a guarantee required by this Ordinance or any rule made thereunder shall be subjected to observation.
Investigation and treatment
(2) Every person who is subjected to surveillance or observation shall give facilities for such clinical or bacterial investigations and shall submit to such medical examination, disinfection, disinsectisation, vaccination or treatment, as is considered necessary by the Port Health Officer or Health Officer.
Germ-carriers
(3) Every person arriving or residing in the Colony who is a germ‑carrier of an infectious disease may be subjected to any of the measures which may be imposed under the provisions of this Ordinance or rules made thereunder in respect of any disease of which such person is a germ‑carrier.
61 Declaration of suspected or infected local area
Whenever the Administrator has reason to believe that a dangerous infectious disease may be introduced into the Colony from or through any local area within or without the Colony, such local area may, on account of the occurrence of a single non‑imported case of either plague or yellow fever or on account of the existence of a foyer of cholera or of an epidemic of typhus or small‑pox, by notification in the Gazette, be declared by the Administrator to be a suspected or infected local area.
62 Importation without the permission of a Health Officer
(1) No person shall knowingly import into the Colony any living noxious insect, or any living pest, or any living disease germ or microbe or any active bacterial culture without the written permission of a Health or Port Health Officer according to the form in Schedule D hereto.
Penalty
(2) Any person who imports anything contrary to this section shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars.
63 Prohibition of importation and possession of the virus of yellow fever
(1) No person shall import into the Colony or abet the importation into the Colony of the virus of yellow fever or any substance infected with the causative agent of yellow fever or shall be in possession of such virus or substance.
(2) Any person who commits a breach of the provisions of subsection (1) shall be liable, on conviction before a District Court, to a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both such fine and imprisonment.
(3) A District Court may, notwithstanding the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code, impose the full punishment prescribed by subsection (2).
64 Examination and seizure of imported goods
(1) A Health or Port Health Officer may examine and seize any imported articles or goods which are or are likely to be in his opinion infected with a disease affecting human beings or animals, or which contain or appear to contain any noxious insect or disease agent, or to be unfit for human consumption.
(2) All infected or suspected goods or articles seized under this section shall be dealt with in such manner as the Health or Port Health Officer directs, and, if found to be infected or to be unfit for human consumption or likely to create a nuisance or likely to be a danger to health, may forthwith be destroyed by the written orders of the Health Officer or Port Health Officer according to the form in Schedule E hereto a copy of which shall be given to the importer, if known.
65 Exemption of postal articles
(1) Letters and correspondence, printed matter, books, newspapers, business documents and similar documents shall not be subjected to any sanitary measure.
(2) Parcels conveyed by post shall be subject to restriction only if their contents include articles to which the restrictions set out in section 67 are applicable.
66 Ships etc leaving infected local area in the Colony
All ships, persons, animals and things leaving or being exported from any infected local area in the Colony, shall be subjected to such measures as may be prescribed by rules made under this Ordinance.
67 Measures in respect of merchandise or baggage
(1) Subject to the provisions of subsection (2) of this section, or of any other written law or rules made thereunder, merchandise or baggage shall not be detained or prevented from entering the Colony.
(2) When a local area, whether within or without the Colony, has been declared under section 61 by notification in the Gazette to be infected, the Port Health Officer or Health Officer may take or order to be taken the following measures in respect of merchandise or baggage which it is desired to import from such local area without the Colony or to export from such local area within the Colony:
(a) when the infectious disease is plague:
(i) body linen or wearing apparel recently worn or bedding which has been in recent use may be subjected to disinsectisation, and, if such Officer considers it necessary, to disinfection;
(ii) merchandise likely to harbour plague‑infected rats may be prohibited from being unloaded, unless the precautions necessary to prevent the escape of rats and to ensure their destruction are taken as far as practicable;
(b) when the infectious disease is cholera:
(i) body linen or wearing apparel recently worn or bedding which has been in recent use may be subjected to disinfection;
(ii) fresh fish, shell‑fish, vegetables, fruit or water may be prohibited from being imported, unless they have undergone a treatment calculated to destroy cholera vibrios;
(c) when the infectious disease is typhus:
body linen or wearing apparel recently worn or bedding which has been in recent use, or rags not carried as merchandise in bulk, may be subjected to disinsectisation;
(d) when the infectious disease is small pox:
body linen or wearing apparel recently worn or bedding which has been in recent use, or rags not carried as merchandise in bulk, may be subjected to disinfection.
Penalties
(3) When the Port Health Officer or Health Officer has ordered to be taken any of the measures set out in subsection (2), every person who in any way contravenes any order with respect to such merchandise or baggage, and the master or chinchew of any ship, the guard of any railway train, or the driver of any vehicle, in which such merchandise is imported or exported, and the person importing or exporting such merchandise or baggage, shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding two hundred dollars, and such merchandise or baggage may be confiscated, disinfected, disinsectised, deratised, treated or destroyed, at the discretion of the Port Health Officer or Health Officer without compensation.
(4) Whenever the Port Health Officer or Health Officer is empowered by this Ordinance or any rule made thereunder to disinfect any article, such officer may destroy by fire any clothes, or other articles of small value, including rags not carried as merchandise in bulk.
(5) The value of all articles so destroyed shall be assessed by such Officer and paid as compensation to the owner of such articles by the local authority.
68 Corpses
(1) No corpse or human remains or bones other than cremated ashes shall be brought into or exported from any local area in the Colony, unless accompanied by a medical certificate or other satisfactory evidence showing the name of the deceased, the date and cause of death and the means adopted to preserve the body, and such corpse or human remains or bones shall not be landed or transhipped or exported without the written permission of a Health Officer or Port Health Officer according to the form in Schedule F hereto.
Penalty
(2) Anyone who commits a breach of this section shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars.
69 Prohibition of use of contaminated water
(1) If the Port Health Officer or Health Officer has reason to believe that any water intended for human use or consumption in any place has been obtained from a source which is in his opinion liable to contamination, it shall be lawful for him to order that water from such source shall not be supplied for such use or consumption.
(2) Any person aggrieved by an order of the Port Health Officer or Health Officer under this section may appeal to the Administrator, whose decision shall be final.
70 Enforcement of undertaking
(1) Every person arriving in the Colony from the Federation of Malaya, who shall have given an undertaking in the Federation of Malaya to report to any Health Officer, Port Health Officer or other Medical Officer in the Colony, shall immediately on his arrival report accordingly and shall comply with all the directions of such Health Officer or other Medical Officer given by virtue of this Ordinance or any rule made thereunder.
(2) Any such person who fails so to report shall be liable to be arrested without a warrant, to be isolated, to be disinfected, both himself and his effects, to be vaccinated, and to be fined on conviction a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, and any deposit made by such person may be forfeited.
Entry by sea
71 Prohibition of landing of deck etc passengers from infected local area
When a local area within or without the Colony has been declared to be an infected local area, the Administrator may issue an order prohibiting the landing in the Colony of deck and third‑class passengers brought from such local area, except under conditions prescribed by him.
72 Obligation of ships from infected or suspected local area
(1) Any ship which arrives at any local area of the Colony from a local area which has been declared by notification in the Gazette to be an infected or suspected local area shall show the appropriate signal prescribed by the rules made under this Ordinance, and anchor at the appointed quarantine anchorage, and shall forthwith be inspected by a Port Health Officer, except that the requirement to anchor at the quarantine anchorage shall not extend to:
(a) any mail ship:
(i) which has been exempted by the Administrator; and
(ii) which is carrying no deck passengers; and
(iii) the master of which has notified the Port Health Officer by wireless message or signal, not less than 12 hours prior to the arrival of such ship, that there is no case or suspected case of infectious disease on board; and
(iv) the master of which produces on arrival in port a signed declaration in the form in Schedule G hereto; or
(b) ships arriving at the local area in the Colony directly from a previous port of call in the Colony where exemption has been granted by the Port Health Officer in writing in the form of Schedule H hereto.
Penalty
(2) Any master or other person who contravenes the provisions of subsection (1) of this section shall be liable on conviction before a District Court to a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both.
(3) The Port Health Officer shall go on board such ship and put to the master, surgeon, chinchew, supercargo, or to any other person on board the ship, such questions as he deems necessary in order to ascertain the state of health of persons on board, the number of or mortality among the rats on board, the sanitary condition of the ship and cargo, and the sanitary conditions of the local area of departure or of intermediate ports touched at, and may require the presence for inspection and examination of all persons on board, and may inspect every part of the ship and shall be entitled to inspect the journal or log book and all ship’s papers.
(4) The Port Health Officer, after making such inquiry, inspection or examination, shall deal with the ship, persons and things on board such ship in the manner provided by this Ordinance and by the rules made thereunder.
73 All ships may be visited by Port Health Officer
Any ship arriving in the waters of the Colony may be visited by the Port Health Officer, who may exercise all or any of the powers vested in him by subsections (3) and (4) of section 72 and shall deal with the ship in the manner provided by this Ordinance or by the rules made thereunder.
74 Police assistance to be rendered to Port Health Officer
The Deputy Commission of Police shall furnish such police assistance as the Port Health Officer requires for the purpose of enabling him to exercise the powers vested in him by this Ordinance and to deal with ships, persons and things on board thereof in the prescribed manner.
75 Penalty for preventing Port Health Officer inspecting ship
Any master or other person who:
(a) prevents or attempts to prevent the Port Health Officer from going on board any ship; or
(b) conceals from that Officer the true state of the health of the crew or passengers or other persons on board any ship or any increase in the number of or mortality amongst the rats on board; or
(c) refuses to answer, or gives an untrue answer to, any inquiry made by the said Officer under this Ordinance; or
(d) fails to produce the journal or log and ship’s papers of any ship or any of them, on demand, to the said Officer; or
(e) fails to present all persons on board for inspection and examination, when required to do so by the said Officer; or
(f) prevents or attempts to prevent that officer from inspecting any part of the ship,
shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars.
76 Duty of master or surgeon
(1) On the arrival at any local area of the Colony of a ship:
(a) which has come from any local area in which at the time of its departure a dangerous infectious disease existed; or
(b) in which a case of dangerous infectious disease occurred before its departure from another local area or during the voyage; or
(c) in which a person apparently suffering from an infectious disease is travelling,
the master, surgeon, chinchew or supercargo of such ship shall truly declare the same in writing to the Pilot or Port Officer or Port Health Officer who comes alongside or on board such ship.
(2) Such ship shall be anchored at a quarantine anchorage if the Pilot or Port Officer or Port Health Officer shall so direct, and shall remain there until the Port Health Officer has granted pratique in writing in the prescribed form: Provided that this subsection shall not apply to a mail ship exempted under paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section 72 to which neither paragraph (b) nor paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of this section applies.
77 Precautions against rats
(1) The master or agents of any ship lying in the waters of the Colony shall take such precautions as may be directed by a Port Health Officer to prevent rats from leaving or entering such ship.
(2) If a ship has called during the current voyage at a port declared by notification in the Gazette to be infected in respect of plague, such ship shall, if so directed by a Port Health Officer, anchor at a quarantine anchorage during its stay in port or until it has been deratised to the satisfaction of the Port Health Officer.
(3) The master, owner or agent of every ship shall, if so required by the Port Health Officer, remove any partition which is not required for the safety of the ship or for the accommodation of the crew, passengers or cargo but is likely to harbour rats or to prevent the destruction of rats by fumigation.
78 Unauthorized boarding or disembarking from infected ship or ship coming from infected or suspected local area, while ship is outside port limits, prohibited
(1) The master of any ship:
which has sailed from any local area on or after the date of notification in the Gazette that the local area is infected or suspected; or
in which there is any case of dangerous infectious disease, or in which there has been such a case since the ship left its last port,
while such ship is lying within the waters of the Colony but outside port limits, shall:
(a) prevent and if necessary detain any person disembarking from such ship; and
(b) detain any person from the Colony who, without permission from the Port Health Officer, boards such ship; and
(c) deliver any person detained to the Port Health Officer; and
(d) prevent any baggage or cargo from being discharged from such ship; and
(e) prevent any rats from leaving or entering such ship.
(2) Every such ship lying within the waters of the Colony shall show the appropriate signal prescribed by the rules made under this Ordinance.
(3) No person shall, without the permission of the Port Health Officer, disembark from such ship.
(4) No person shall, without the permission of the Port Health Officer, board such ship or approach within two hundred yards thereof for the purpose of communicating with any person thereon.
(5) Any person from the Colony boarding such ship, without the permission of the Port Health Officer, shall be subject to the provisions of this Ordinance and the rules made thereunder as if he were a passenger on such ship and such ship had come within the limits of a port.
Penalty
(6) The master or any other person who fails to comply with any of the provisions of this section, and any person aiding or abetting such master or other person as aforesaid, shall be liable on conviction before a District Court to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both.
79 Declaration by master, surgeon and chinchew
(1) The master, surgeon and chinchew or supercargo of any vessel arriving in the Colony shall make and sign a true declaration according to the form in Schedule G hereto as to the number of crew and passengers, the presence or prevalence of infectious disease on board during the voyage, the number of deaths and such other particulars as are set out in such declaration.
(2) Such declaration purporting to be signed by the master, surgeon and chinchew or supercargo shall be deemed to have been so signed.
Penalties
(3) Any information contained in such declaration, which is subsequently found to be untrue, shall render such master, surgeon and chinchew or supercargo liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars each or to imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or to both.
(4) Any master, surgeon, chinchew or supercargo, who fails to make and sign a declaration as herein required, shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars.
80 Passenger lists to be delivered to Port Health Officer
(1) A copy of the passenger lists shall be lodged with the Port Health Officer, if he shall so direct, as soon as possible after the arrival of any ship in the waters of the Colony.
Inspection of manifest
(2) The Port Health Officer shall also be entitled to inspect the manifest of any ship’s cargo upon the arrival of such ship in the waters of the Colony.
81 Detention of passengers at quarantine station
(1) The Port Health Officer may detain at a quarantine station any passenger who is found on arrival in the Colony to be suffering from an infectious disease, dysentery, measles, mumps, contagious ophthalmia, malaria, syphilis or trachoma until such time as the disease is no longer communicable to other people.
(2) If the disease is pulmonary tuberculosis, leprosy, syphilis or trachoma, and the diseased person is not a native of the Colony, such person shall, unless specially exempted by the Administrator, be returned to his place of origin or embarkation by or at the expense of the agents of the ship by which he arrived in the Colony.
(3) Any person refusing prophylactic vaccination against any dangerous infectious disease may be detained for observation by the Port Health Officer for a period not exceeding the quarantine period for such disease.
(4) The Port Health Officer may detain any immigrant at a quarantine station, for a period not exceeding seven days, for the purpose of medical examination.
82 Power to limit number of persons detained at quarantine station
The Port Health Officer may limit to two hundred and fifty the number of persons to be detained at a quarantine station in the Colony from any one ship under the provisions of this Ordinance or of the rules and regulations made thereunder. The remaining persons, if any, in such ship may be detained for observation in the ship or in a hulk at a quarantine anchorage or elsewhere as the Port Health Officer shall direct.
83 Water boats
(1) The owner or boatman of any boat or ship employed as a water boat or carrying water or food intended for human consumption or sale shall keep his boat or ship and the water or food receptacles therein in a clean condition, and shall not carry for sale or sell or distribute any water or food which is liable to be injurious to health.
(2) The Port Health Officer may take samples of any water or food intended for human consumption or for sale.
Penalty
(3) Any owner or boatman who commits a breach of subsection (1) shall be liable to arrest without warrant and on conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars.
84 Powers of Port Health Officer in connection with water and food for use in a ship
(1) If the Port Health Officer has reason to believe that any water or food intended for human use or consumption in a ship is unfit for such use or consumption, it shall be lawful for him to order:
(a) that the owner, vendor, carrier or person in charge or control of such water or food shall forthwith procure an analysis of such water or food to be made to the satisfaction of the Port Health Officer;
(b) that, until the result of such analysis is communicated to the Port Health Officer, such water or food, or water or food from a similar source, shall not be supplied to any ship;
(c) that the portion of any ship which contains or has contained such water or food shall be disinfected to his satisfaction before any other water or food is placed therein.
(2) If the Port Health Officer is not satisfied by the result of the analysis that such water or food is fit for human use or consumption, it shall be lawful for him to order:
(a) that such water or food shall not be supplied for human use or consumption;
(b) that such water or food shall be disinfected or destroyed to his satisfaction.
85 Precautions as to water, food or cargo
No master, or chinchew, or supercargo or agent shall embark supplies of water or food, or disembark cargo in any local area of the Colony, except under such sanitary precautions as the Port Health Officer may direct.
86 Nuisances on board ship
(1) If the Port Health Officer on inspection of any ship within port limits as defined under the Merchant Shipping Ordinance finds any decaying animal or vegetable matter, fruit, water, rubbish, dirt, filth or other matter, which in his opinion is likely to be injurious to health or to create a nuisance, he may serve a written notice on the master, agent or owner of the ship according to Form I in Schedule I hereto to abate the said nuisance within twelve hours.
Penalty
(2) If such nuisance is not abated within such time, the master, agent or owner shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars and to a further fine not exceeding forty dollars for every day of continuing default.
(3) If the Port Health Officer on inspection of any ship within port limits as defined under the Merchant Shipping Ordinance finds any crew’s quarters, living spaces, water tanks, food-lockers, paint-lockers, decks, lavatories, latrines, or bilges to be in a dirty or insanitary state, he may call upon the master of such ship to carry out to his satisfaction such cleansing, disinfection, whitewashing or painting as he directs according to Form II in Schedule I hereto.
Penalty
(4) Any master who neglects to comply with such orders within such time as the Port Health Officer directs shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars and to a further fine not exceeding forty dollars for every day of continuing default, and the person whose duty it is to grant a port clearance may, on the certificate of the Port Health Officer, withhold a port clearance from such ship, until the Health Officer’s directions have been complied with.
(5) At the discretion of the Port Health Officer any offensive articles mentioned in this section may be discharged, and the vessel may, at the owner’s or agents’ expense, be disinfected under the supervision of the Port Health Officer.
(6) Any article conveyed from any ship or hulk in quarantine or from any place within a quarantine anchorage or quarantine station, to any place outside such ship, hulk, anchorage or station shall, before being forwarded to its destination, be disinfected, disinsectised or deratised, if the Port Health Officer so directs.
(7) The Port Health Officer may require any person liable to be quarantined, to be disinfected, together with his clothing and baggage, before being released.
(8) All expenses incurred by the Port Health Officer in carrying out this section shall be recoverable from the owner or agents of the vessel under the Crown Suits Ordinance on the certificate of the Port Health Officer.
87 Recovery of cost of rations etc supplied at a quarantine station
The cost of rations and other things supplied to persons detained in a quarantine station shall be deemed to be a debt due to the Government of the Colony, and shall be recoverable from the owner or agents of the ship in which such persons are conveyed under the Crown Suits Ordinance on the certificate of the Port Health Officer.
Entry by land
88 Examination of persons entering by land from any place where a dangerous infectious disease is declared to exist
(1) Whenever it is declared by the Administrator by notification in the Gazette that a dangerous infectious disease exists in any local area within or without the Colony, all persons entering by land the district of any local authority from such local area may be medically examined by the Health Officer of the district or any one authorized by the Health Officer.
(2) The medical examination shall be conducted at such place as the local authority approves, and, in the case of arrivals by rail, the railway authorities shall allow sufficient time and make due arrangements for the examination.
(3) All such persons suffering from or being carriers of or suspected to be suffering from or being carriers of a dangerous infectious disease shall be put under observation and detained until discharged by the Medical Officer in charge.
(4) All such persons may be required on passing the frontier or boundary to enter into a written undertaking according to the form in Schedule J hereto to present themselves for surveillance on arrival at their destination, and may be required to deposit such sum of money not exceeding fifty dollars as may be fixed by the Health Officer.
(5) Any person who is unable or unwilling to deposit such sum of money may be detained for observation and may be subjected to disinfection or disinsectisation of himself and his effects and to vaccination.
(6) The period of observation or surveillance reckoned from the day of arrival shall not exceed:
in the case of cholera, five days;
in the case of plague or yellow fever, six days;
in the case of pneumonic plague, seven days;
in the case of typhus fever, twelve days;
in the case of small‑pox fourteen days.
(7) The Health Officer may, at his discretion, order the disinfection or destruction of the clothes and personal effects of any person entering the district of any local authority from such local area, and the disinfection or disinsectisation and the vaccination of any such person.
(8) The value of such clothes and personal effects as are destroyed shall be assessed by the Health Officer, and shall be paid out of the funds of the local authority as compensation to the owner thereof.
Penalties
(9) Any such person who:
(a) refuses to submit to medical examination and refuses to leave the Colony or district; or
(b) being subjected to surveillance fails to present himself for examination,
may be arrested without warrant, isolated to the satisfaction of the Health Officer, and be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, and any sum deposited shall be forfeited.
(10) Any person who, having been removed to a hospital or isolated under this section, escapes from the hospital or place where he is isolated, shall be arrested without warrant by any person, and conveyed to and detained in the hospital or place of isolation, and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars.
(11) If sufficient time is not allowed or due arrangements are not made for the examination of passengers by rail, the manager of the railway shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars.
(12) Any such person refusing vaccination against a dangerous infectious disease may be detained for observation at such person’s expense by the Health Officer for a period which shall not exceed the quarantine period for such dangerous infectious disease.
(13) On arrival at its destination any carriage or other vehicle which has conveyed any person referred to in subsection (1) shall be disinfected or deratised, together with its contents, as the Health Officer may direct.
89 Prohibition of immigration from a local area declared under section 88
Whenever a declaration has been made under subsection (1) of section 88, the Minister may issue an order prohibiting the entrance into the Colony of immigrants from such local area, except under conditions prescribed by him.
90 Power to order evacuation of infected local area
(1) Whenever a declaration has been made under subsection (1) of section 88, regarding a local area of the Colony, the Administrator may issue an order for the evacuation of the whole or of any part of such infected area. The order for evacuation may apply to all persons or to any person or class of persons.
(2) It shall not be lawful for any person to reside or to carry on business within any infected area or portion thereof in contravention of an order for evacuation, or to enter or be therein, except when passing along a thoroughfare allowed to remain open to the public, without an order in writing to that effect signed by a Health Officer, and upon such conditions as such Health Officer may in such order direct.
(3) Any person licensed to sell spirits, wine, samsu, beer or toddy in a store situated in any infected area or portion thereof which is comprised in an order for evacuation, shall, if he is a person or one of a class of persons to whom the order applies, be entitled to a transfer of the licence to a store situated in some place approved by the licensing authority to which no order for evacuation extends and where no higher licence fee is payable, or may be awarded a refund of the whole or any portion of the fee paid for the licence.
91 Examination of persons arriving in the Colony by land
All persons arriving in the Colony by land may be medically examined by the Health Officer of the district or anyone authorized by the Health Officer, and the Health Officer or person so authorized may exercise all or any of the powers conferred by section 88.
92 Detention of persons arriving by land
(1) The Health Officer may detain any person who is found on arrival in the Colony by land to be suffering from an infectious disease, dysentery, measles, mumps, contagious ophthalmia, malaria, syphilis or trachoma until such time as the disease is no longer communicable to other people.
(2) If the disease is pulmonary tuberculosis, leprosy, syphilis or trachoma, and the diseased person is not a native of the Colony, such person shall, unless specially exempted by the Administrator, be returned to his place of origin or departure at his own expense or at the expense of the owners of the conveyance in which he arrived in the Colony.
93 Duty of the guard of train on which there is a case of dangerous infectious disease
(1) The guard of any train on which a case of a dangerous infectious disease is present, shall, on arrival at the next station, report the fact to the station master, who shall telegraph or telephone full particulars both to the Health Officer of the district in which the station is situated and to the officer authorized to conduct the medical examination of persons arriving at the frontier of the Colony or at any local area of the Colony.
(2) The station master shall isolate the compartment in which the sick person is, the sick person and all other occupants thereof, until they have been examined by the Health Officer or other officer authorized to conduct the medical examination.
(3) The sick person and other persons in the carriage shall be dealt with in the manner provided and be liable on conviction to the fines imposed by section 88.
(4) The personal effects of the persons in the carriage may be destroyed or disinfected at the discretion of the Health Officer, and the carriage, in which such persons were, shall be disinfected at the expense of the owner of such railway to the satisfaction of the Health Officer.
(5) Any guard who commits a breach of subsection (1) of this section, and any station master who commits a breach of subsection (1) or (2) of this section shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding four hundred dollars.
(6) When the guard of any train is charged with a breach of subsection (1) of this section, he shall be presumed to have known of the existence of the case of dangerous infectious disease on the train, unless he shows to the satisfaction of the court before which he is charged that he had not such knowledge and could not with reasonable diligence have obtained such knowledge.
(7) On arrival at its destination any carriage, van, truck or other vehicle which the Health Officer suspects is infected or infested or has contents infected or infested with a dangerous infectious disease, or which harbours rats, shall be disinfected or disinfested or deratised together with its contents, as the Health Officer may direct.
94 Power to make rules for the sanitary control of aerial navigation
(1) The Minister may make rules, not inconsistent with the provisions of any International Treaty or Convention relating thereto and applicable to the Colony, for establishing and maintaining places, works and services for the sanitary control of aerial navigation, and for prescribing sanitary measures to be taken in respect of aircraft or of persons or things therein arriving at or departing from any place in the Colony.
(2) In making any such rule the Minister may prescribe the fine with which the contravention thereof shall be punishable, but so that such fine shall not exceed one thousand dollars for any one offence.
Part VII Rules and regulations
96 Rules
The Minister may make such rules and regulations as seem to the Minister necessary or expedient for the purpose of preventing the introduction into and the spread in the Colony of any disease and the transmission of any disease from the Colony.
97 Matters in respect of which rules may be made
(1) The rules and regulations made under this Ordinance may provide for:
(a) placing vessels arriving at any port of the Colony in quarantine;
(b) prohibiting or regulating the landing of persons from vessels either absolutely or conditionally;
(c) prohibiting or regulating the landing of animals brought by sea, land or air from any place without or within the Colony, and for prohibiting such landing except at specified places;
(d) isolating cases of disease, whether in persons or animals;
(e) establishing and maintaining quarantine stations for persons and animals, and for regulating the management of the same;
(f) the removal of persons infected with disease to hospitals or other places for medical treatment and for their detention until they can be discharged with safety to the public;
(g) prohibiting or regulating the movement of diseased animals or animals suspected of being diseased, and the removal of carcases;
(h) slaughtering with or without compensation as is deemed expedient, diseased animals, or with compensation, animals suspected of being diseased or of having been in circumstances in which they were likely to have become infected with disease;
(i) cleansing and disinfecting houses, buildings, rooms and other places which have been occupied by any diseased person or animal or which are otherwise in an insanitary condition;
(j) disinfecting and, if expedient, destroying with or without compensation, as is deemed expedient, furniture, clothing, litter, fodder and other articles which have been in contact with any diseased person or animal or which are reasonably suspected of being a vehicle for spreading disease;
(k) prescribing the measures that shall be taken to prevent the departure of persons infected or suspected to be infected with any dangerous infectious disease from any infected local area of the Colony;
(l) prohibiting the importation or exportation of merchandise, articles or clothing infected or suspected to be infected either absolutely or conditionally to or from any infected local area of the Colony;
(m) prescribing the measures that shall be applied with respect to merchandise, articles or clothing infected or suspected to be infected which are permitted to be imported into or exported from any infected local area of the Colony;
(n) prescribing the measures that shall be applied to ships leaving any infected local area of the Colony;
(o) prescribing the measures to be taken for the prevention of the conveyance of infection by means of any vessel, aircraft or other craft or vehicle sailing or departing from any infected local area of the Colony;
(p) prohibiting or regulating the export of cattle from any port or ports of the Colony either absolutely or conditionally and either generally or to any particular port or ports;
(q) appointing, establishing and maintaining places for the observation and examination of cattle previous to export, and for regulating the management of the same, and for compelling the examination of cattle intended to be exported;
(r) cleansing and disinfecting any vessels in which cattle are to be exported;
(s) prohibiting and regulating the removal of fodder, litter, dung and other things;
(t) prescribing and regulating the seizure, detention and disposal of any animal dealt with in contravention of any rule or regulation made under this Ordinance, and for prescribing and regulating the liability of the owner or consignor or consignee or importer of the animal to the expenses connected with the seizure, detention and disposal thereof;
(u) prescribing the notification to Government by medical men of cases of disease treated by them;
(v) the appointment of inspectors and other officers to carry out this Ordinance or any rules or regulations made thereunder, and for regulating their duties and conduct, and for investing them with all powers necessary for the due execution of their duties;
(w) the performance and execution by local authorities of any powers and duties conferred and imposed by this Ordinance or any rules or regulations made thereunder;
(x) prescribing the publication of any rules or regulations made under this Ordinance, and for prescribing and regulating the form and mode of service or delivery of notices and other documents;
(y) prescribing the fine with which the contravention of any rule or regulation made under this Ordinance shall be punishable, but so that such fine shall not exceed five hundred dollars;
(z) fixing the amount of fees to be paid under this Ordinance;
(aa) any matter directed or permitted to be prescribed by this Ordinance.
(2) Nothing in subsection (1) shall in any way restrict or be construed to restrict the generality of the powers conferred on the Minister by this Ordinance, but such powers shall extend to all matters, whether similar or not to those in subsection (1) of this section mentioned, as to which it is expedient to make rules or regulations for the better carrying into effect the objects of this Ordinance.
(3) All rules and regulations made under this Ordinance shall be published in the Gazette, and from the date of such publication shall have the same force and effect as if they had been enacted in this Ordinance.
(4) All such rules and regulations shall be laid before the Legislative Assembly at the first meeting after such publication, and shall cease to have any force or effect if disallowed by resolution of the said Assembly.
(5) Any rule or regulation may be altered by a resolution of the Legislative Assembly and shall come into force as altered from the date of the passing of such resolution, and shall have the same force and effect as if it had been enacted in this Ordinance.
Part VIII Miscellaneous provisions
98 Offences
Any person who, without lawful authority or excuse, proof whereof shall lie on him:
(a) does or omits to do anything which under this Ordinance or any rules or regulations made thereunder he ought not to do or omit to do; or
(b) obstructs, or impedes, or assists in obstructing or impeding, any inspector or other officer appointed under this Ordinance or any police officer in the execution of this Ordinance or of any rule or regulation made thereunder,
shall be guilty of an offence under this Ordinance.
99 Punishments
(1) Any person, who is guilty of an offence under this Ordinance or under any rule or regulation made thereunder for which no penalty is prescribed shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars.
(2) Any person convicted of any offence under this Ordinance, who is within a period of twelve calendar months convicted for a second or subsequent like offence under this Ordinance, shall be liable, in the discretion of the Magistrate’s Court, to imprisonment for any term which may extend to two months or to a fine not exceeding four hundred dollars, or to both.
(3) Nothing in this section shall affect the liability of any person to any punishment or penalty, to which he is liable at common law or under any enactment other than this Ordinance, but so that a person shall not be punished twice for the same offence.
100 Forfeitures
(1) If any person lands or brings or attempts to land or bring in or into the Colony any animal or thing in contravention of any rule or regulation made under this Ordinance, such animal or thing shall be forfeited.
(2) Forfeitures under this Ordinance may be declared by a Magistrate’s Court, and all animals and things forfeited shall be dealt with as the Chief Secretary directs.
101 Power to arrest
(1) When a person is seen or found committing, or is reasonably suspected of being engaged in committing, an offence under this Ordinance, any inspector or other officer appointed under this Ordinance or any police officer may, without warrant, stop and detain him and, if his name and address are not known, may, without warrant, apprehend him.
(2) Any person who obstructs or impedes an inspector or other officer appointed under this Ordinance or any police officer in the execution of this Ordinance or of any rule or regulation made thereunder, or assists in any such obstructing or impeding, may be apprehended by such inspector or other officer or police officer without warrant.
(3) A person apprehended under this section shall be taken with all practicable speed before a Magistrate’s Court.
(4) Nothing in this section shall take away or abridge any power or authority that a police officer would have had, if this section had not been enacted.
102 Presumption
Where the person in charge of a diseased person, or the owner or person in charge of a diseased animal, is charged with an offence under this Ordinance relative to such disease, he shall be presumed to have known of the existence of such disease in such person or animal, unless and until he shows to the satisfaction of the court before which he is charged that he had not such knowledge and could not with reasonable diligence have obtained such knowledge.
103 Officers to be public servants
Inspectors and other officers appointed under this Ordinance shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning of the Penal Code.
104 Offences triable by Magistrate’s Court unless otherwise provided
Unless otherwise provided, every offence under this Ordinance may be tried by a Magistrate’s Court, and such Court may, notwithstanding anything in the Criminal Procedure Code, award the full punishment with which such offence is punishable.