Updated: Committee wants overhaul of archaic Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 Share Article AAA Migrants in A.P. on their way to their home States, earlier this year. | Photo Credit: V. Raju Committee wants overhaul of archaic Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 A national database of migrant workers should be collated at the earliest to ensure that if there is ever a repeat of a COVID-19-like pandemic, the relief measures should reach the intended beneficiaries, the Standing Committee on Home Affairs has noted in its report. The committee also recommended an urgent review of the 123-year-old Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, which predates even the Spanish Flu of 1918.