NEW DELHI: Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Saturday withdrew his order mandating compulsory quarantine for all Covid-19 cases in Delhi after staunch opposition from the state government. The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government had opposed the move, saying that its workforce was already stretched in the city. On Saturday morning, it asked the L-G to reconsider his decision during a meeting of the State Disaster Management Authority.
According to the AAP government, if home isolation was completely ended, then Delhi would need around 1 lakh beds by the end of June. Earlier, the same number of beds was estimated to be needed at the end of July when there will be more than five lakh cases.
“There are more than 10,000 people under home isolation currently and there are only 6,000 beds at quarantine centers, so where are we going to accommodate all the people?” Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said.
After another meeting in the evening, the L-G withdrew the order making the quarantine optional. “Only those Covid 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,” the L-G tweeted. The Delhi government has set up a SOP for home isolation.
“All the L-G’s fears were resolved in the SDMA meeting and now the system of home isolation will continue. We thank him for this,” Sisodia tweeted.