New Delhi: A day after his order of five-day mandatory quarantine for Covid positive patients in the national capital created controversy, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal withdrew it today.
Anil Baijal clarified with a tweet that only those positive cases that do not require hospitalisation & the ones who do not having adequate facilities for home isolation would be required to go through institutional quarantine.
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.
— LG Delhi (@LtGovDelhi) June 20, 2020
Yesterday, Baijal had issued orders changing the quarantine protocol for corona virus positive patients in Delhi. Home Minister Amit Shah had chaired a meeting with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal last Sunday and told Delhi government officers one way to control the surging corona virus cases numbers is to end home isolation since it was not being implemented appropriately.
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The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led government in Delhi had vehemently opposed the decision to impose mandatory institutional isolation. AAP MLA Atishi, who tested positive for the corona virus and is recovering at home said, “The Centre’s decision of making five-day institutional quarantine compulsory for COVID-19 patients in Delhi is wrong. I am a corona virus patient and am recovering at home. Due to this five-day institutional quarantine, people will now refrain from getting tested.”
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had also opposed Baijal’s order, asking why a separate rule was imposed in case of the capital alone.
At a DDMA meeting, Kejriwal said the ICMR has permitted home isolation for asymptomatic patients in the whole country, then why a separate rule was employed in case of Delhi.
Baijal’s decision had also been challenged in the Delhi High Court, with petitioner Nancy Roy arguing that the order will discourage people from revealing their corona virus positive status and increase the risk of further spread of the infection in the city.