South West Delhi withdraws mandatory quarantine order for patients over 60 years old
Officials said the September 21 order was revoked because it was not in accordance with the coronavirus guidelines of the Delhi government or the ICMR.
The additional district magistrate of South West Delhi on Sunday withdrew a September 21 order that mandated the isolation of coronavirus patients above 60 years at Covid-19 care facilities, NDTV reported.
The home isolation guidelines of the Delhi government, similar to the Centre’s guidelines, allow home isolation of people who either have mild symptoms of are asymptomatic if there is enough space for them at their residence, according to Hindustan Times.
No official reason has been given for the withdrawal of the order. However, unidentified officials said the September 21 order was revoked because it was not in accordance with the guidelines of the Delhi government or the Indian Council for Medical Research.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has called home isolation, coupled with aggressive testing, the “most important strategy” for fighting the infection. After the coronavirus cases had surged in the Capital in June, the Aam Aadmi Party-led government argued against Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal’s June 20 order for five-day mandatory institutional quarantine for all coronavirus-positive patients. Five days later, the lieutenant governor revoked the order amid opposition from the Delhi government, saying only those coronavirus patients who do not have adequate facilities at home to ensure isolation, will have to be shifted to Covid-19 care centres and other medical facilities.
There are 17,291 coronavirus patients in home isolation in Delhi. More than 1,01,000 coronavirus-positive patients have recovered and 40 fatalities reported in home isolation in the Capital till September 17, according to government data.
The Capital has so far reported 2,71,114 coronavirus cases, according to the Union health ministry. The toll was 5,235 and the tally of active cases stood at 29,228.
Delhi has registered more than 3,000 new cases per day for nine of the last 10 days. On September 21, there were 2,548. Further, there were more than 4,000 cases in two of these 10 days.
On September 24, Kejriwal had said that experts believe the Capital was hit by the second wave of the coronavirus, which is at its peak, and that its intensity will decline in the coming days. It was the first time any state or Union Territory had claimed to have entered a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.