Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal opposes move to make 5-day institutional quarantine mandatory

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday opposed Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal's earlier order that made a five-day institutional quarantine mandatory for every COVID-19 positive patient in the national capital, effectively ending the provision for home isolation. The Chief Minister expressed his opposition to this move at a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) at 12 noon on this day.

Explaining the reason behind his opposition, Kejriwal said that ending home isolation will make people evade testing which will further increase the spread of the infection.

For context, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal had on Friday issued an order that said, "Every corona positive person will have to stay in the quarantine center for 5 days. Only then a person will be sent to home isolation. But if there are symptoms then they will be sent to the quarantine center or hospital, accordingly."

However, officials at the Delhi government had expressed displeasure with this order and said that it will discourage people to undergo testing when they become aware that they would not be in the comfort of home isolation and would have to undergo mandatory quarantine. The Delhi government further said that it will cause additional problems for the already understaffed medical facilities in the national capital down the line. 

Earlier, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had also said that the Delhi government will in today's meeting oppose the Lieutenant Governor's order. "Ending home isolation is against the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines and will create chaos in Delhi," Sisodia had said.

Elaborating on this, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said today, "Considering that there is already a shortage of healthcare staff, how will it be possible to arrange doctors and nurses for thousands of patients at quarantine centers?"

According to sources cited by news agency ANI, Kejriwal further asked that when the ICMR is itself allowing home-isolation for asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic cases across the country, why different rules are being implemented in Delhi.

The Chief Minister also pointed out that although the Railways had provided isolation coaches to be turned to COVID-19 quarantine facilities, he asked how will patients stay in them given the hot weather.

According to reports, the Lieutenant Governor had in his original order attributed the lack of physical verification in home isolation to be a possible factor in the sharp rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in the national capital recently. "Delhi is reviewed regularly in the Ministry of Home Affairs and it was observed that 'Home Isolation' without physical contact to monitor the patients may be a reason for the increase in the spread of increase in COVID-19 infections in Delhi," the order stated.

"Under the supervision of the District Magistrate, the team of District Surveillance Officers will do physical verification of everyone in home isolation," it added.

Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal is the head of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), the top decision-making body in the national capital over coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-related matters.

Delhi on Friday reported the highest single-day spike of 3,137 new positive cases, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases in the national capital to 53,116. As many as 66 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 2,035