Delhi L-G orders mandatory 5 day institutional quarantine for Covid-19 patients

However, the city’s AAP government has called the L-G’s decision “arbitrary” and said it will “seriously harm” Delhi. The Arvind Kejriwal government has also asked the L-G to reconsider his decision.

Covid-19 patients in Delhi under home quarantine so far will now have to undergo mandatory five-day institutional quarantine, Lieutenant-General Anil Baijal said on Friday.

A view of the hospital in Delhi’s Burari that has been turned into a quarantine facility for Covid-19 patients by the Delhi government, Friday, June 19, 2020. (Biplov Bhuyan/HT Photo)

The L-G’s order added that after the five-day institutional quarantine, asymptomatic Covid-19 patients will be sent for home quarantine, according to news agency PTI.

“Five days institutional quarantine of each case under home-quarantine is to be made mandatory and, thereafter, (they) will be sent for home-isolation, except in cases where symptoms require further hospitalization,” Baijal said in his order.

However, the city’s AAP government has called the L-G’s decision “arbitrary” and said it will “seriously harm” Delhi. The Arvind Kejriwal government has also asked the L-G to reconsider his decision.

Saying that there was already a serious shortage of doctors and nurses for treating Covid-19 patients in the national capital, the AAP government added that manpower is already stretched and large quarantine centres would be needed to accommodate thousands of asymptomatic people.

“L-G’s decision on home isolation will discourage many people from getting tested and (this in turn) will spread coronavirus further, PTI quoting Delhi government as saying.

The L-G’s order came on a day that Delhi recorded yet another highest single-day spike in Covid-19 cases. With 3,137 new infections reported on Friday, the national capital’s tally crossed the 53,000-mark. while the death toll rose to 2,035, according to PTI.

Meanwhile, the government is gearing up to augment ICU bed capacity in the city’s dedicated Covid-19 hospitals, Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said on Friday.

In another development during the day, the Delhi government tested 12,680 people for the coronavirus infection using Rapid Antigen Testing kits and found at least 951 positive samples.

“Today, 12,680 people in Delhi were tested for Covid-19 using Rapid Antigen Testing Kits, out of whom 951 people were found positive,” Sisodia said in a tweet.

(With inputs from PTI)