Quarantine can go beyond 14 days as pathogen new, says Delhi High Court

The petition said the man did not test positive for the disease within 14 days from being quarantined.

The Delhi high court has said the period of home quarantine linked to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cannot be limited to 14 days, with there being no certainty over the virulence of the pathogen, even as it added that a person who doesn’t display symptoms and hasn’t tested positive can ask authorities for an explanation over being kept in quarantine beyond two weeks.

A police officer uses a megaphone to urge people to maintain safe distance upon disembarking from the train at the Howrah Junction railway station on the outskirts of Kolkata. (REUTERS)

The order came after a petition was filed by a person who was put in quarantine from midnight of March 24-25, when he first had contact with a delivery person who tested positive, till April 28 – about 30 days. The petition said the man did not test positive for the disease within 14 days from being quarantined.

Justice C Hari Shankar said that so far, there was no certainty of opinion regarding the extent of the virulence of the virus, its actual period of gestation, the time taken for symptoms, or for how long a person remains a potential source of infection.

In a judgment passed on Monday, justice Hari Shankar said the court was “unwilling to hold that in each and in every case, the period of home quarantine must stand limited to 14 days, and no more” while also observing that unjustified quarantine also has “deleterious civil consequences”.

The Delhi government’s counsel said that in the case of the petitioner, photojournalist Amit Bhargava, the medical team engaged for listing cases was under pressure as even a single case left untraced could turn an entire locality into a hot spot. The government submitted that a “Home Under Quarantine” notice was pasted as per the contact history tracing and information of exposure received from the authorities. It was submitted that in the process of keeping the petitioner safe, the pasting of HQ notice was highly in his own interests.

Advocate Shyel Trehan, appearing for the petitioner, contended that the people who were under home quarantine were unaware of the officer who was required to be contacted in case of any exigency during the home quarantine.

Following this, the counsel for the Delhi government, advocate Shobhana Takiar, said that a helpline number will be displayed on the official website of the Delhi government in this regard.

The judge said that in formulating and implementing its policy to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, which has befuddled the entire global community, the executive administration is traversing uncharted territory.

“The executive must, in such a circumstance, be afforded the requisite play in the joints, so as to formulate, and implement, its policy, as meaningfully and efficiently as possible. Absent any legal or constitutional infraction, therefore, Courts have necessarily to be slow in subjecting executive action, taken in the context of the COVID 2019 crisis, to searching judicial scrutiny,” the court said.

“Delhi Government strictly follows the guidelines prescribed by the centre and ICMR. In fact, the latest guidelines issued by centre three days ago recommends 10 days of isolation followed by seven days of home isolation for mild patients. We are following the same,” a senior official in the chief minister’s office said.