Compulsory 5-day institutional quarantine order for all Covid-19 cases in Delhi withdrawn

Earlier today, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal met Baijal during a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority and requested the L-G to revoke the order.

The mandatory five-day institutional quarantine order, issued by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, for every Covid-19 case in Delhi was withdrawn on Saturday evening, a day after it blew up into a controversy and demands of rollback from the Arvind Kejriwal government.

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority, headed by Baijal, had said in its earlier order that it fears “home isolation without physical contact to monitor the patients may be a reason for the increase in the spread of Covid-19 infections in Delhi”. (File photo)

Senior ministers of the Delhi government had met lieutenant governor Anil Baijal for the second time on Saturday at 5 pm. The meeting was held after the state government and the L-G failed to agree on the issue during their meeting in the afternoon.

“Regarding institutional isolation, only those COVID positive cases which do not require hospitalisation on clinical assessment & do not have adequate facilities for home isolation would be required to undergo institutional isolation,” Baijal tweeted after the meeting.

The chief minister’s office also confirmed the development.

During the day, news agency ANI quoted union minister of state for home affairs G Kishen Reddy saying that he expected a new order by evening.

“Delhi L-G might have ordered institutional quarantine for the benefit of those who do not have space in their homes. But I think that he will issue another piece of information by today evening for people who can create an isolated separate room in their homes,” Reddy was quoted as saying

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority, headed by Baijal, had said in its earlier order that it fears “home isolation without physical contact to monitor the patients may be a reason for the increase in the spread of Covid-19 infections in Delhi”.

An official who was part of Saturday’s meeting between Baijal and Kejriwal, confirmed that chief minister Kejriwal said that if Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is allowing home-isolation for asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic cases across the country, “why were different rules being implemented in Delhi?”

The chief minister is learnt to have told the L-G that people would avoid getting tested for the disease fearing they would be sent off to an institutional quarantine facility for five days.

The officials also said that Kejriwal mentioned the shortage of health care staff and the difficulties in getting doctors and nurses at such a short notice for thousands of patients at the quarantine centres.

AAP MLA Raghav Chadha too had opposed the order. He told reporters in the morning, “We had estimated that we would need 15,000 beds by June 30. However, following this order, we would need 90,000 beds in Delhi by that time. How are we going to arrange for so many beds?”