Home isolation back in Delhi: LG relents as AAP govt puts pressure

Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Saturday withdrew the orders to make five-day institutional quarantine for all COVID-19 patients, which would have practically ended the provision for home isolation, within 24 hours after issuing it, following intense pressure from the AAP-led government.

The decision to withdraw the orders, which was taken following instructions from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), came after two rounds of meetings of Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) during the day with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal making it clear they would oppose it as it would squeeze the capital's healthcare infrastructure.

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"Regarding institutional isolation, only those COVID-19 positive cases which do not require hospitalisation on clinical assessment and do not have adequate facilities for home isolation would be required to undergo institutional isolation," Baijal tweeted after the second round of meeting in the evening.

The first meeting at 12 noon had remained inconclusive with the AAP government stepping up pressure, asking why different yardstick is applied in Delhi when guidelines issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) allowed home isolation for asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic cases across the country.

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Sources said Kejriwal highlighted the shortage of healthcare staff while asking how it will be possible to arrange doctors and nurses for thousands of patients at healthcare centres. "Railways have provided isolation coaches but given the hot weather, how will someone stay in them," he asked.

The Delhi government had on Friday night itself objected to the order making the five-day institutional quarantine for all COVID-19 patients through a statement. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who also handles Health Department after Health Minister Satyendar Jain tested COVID-19 positive, and AAP MLA Atishi, who was also tested positive, made statements against the move.

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"The Chief Minister said if home isolation ends in Delhi there will be chaos. Currently, there are more than 10,000 people under home isolation and there are only 6,000 beds at quarantine centres, where will we accommodate all the people?" Sisodia said earlier in the day.

In his order on Friday, Baijal said that the MHA is reviewing the situation in the capital regularly and it was observed that 'home isolation' without physical contact to monitor patients could be the reason for increase in COVID-19's spread in the capital. "To limit the spread of COVID-19, in a view of the surge in cases, it is felt that mandatory physical verification of each case under home isolation needs to be carried out by the surveillance teams...," the order said.

Baijal had earlier this month reversed Delhi government's two decisions -- reserving hospital beds for Delhi residents and changing the COVID-19 testing criteria -- but Kejriwal chose not to pick up a fight on these two issues and said would implement it to the best of their ability.