5-day institutional quarantine must for Covid patients: L-G
New Delhi: Delhi L-G Anil Baijal on Friday issued orders saying that five days institutional quarantine will be now mandatory for all Covid-19 patients before they are allowed home quarantine. This comes soon after a meeting with the MHA and health ministry, where it was felt that one of the reasons for virus spreading in Delhi could be the absence of physical monitoring of patients who are allowed home isolation.
Delhi lieutenant governor Anil Baijal on Friday issued orders saying that five days institutional quarantine will be now mandatory for all Covid19 patients before they are allowed home quarantine. This comes soon after a meeting with ministry of home affairs and health ministry where it was felt that one of the reasons for virus spreading in Delhi could be the absence of physical monitoring of patients who are allowed home isolation.
To limit this, the L-G said, it was felt that mandatory physical verification of each case under home isolation needs to be carried out by the surveillance teams. The order added that the telephonic contact with positive patients on home quarantine will now be stopped and now every positive patients have to be first kept in hospital for 5 days if their condition allows.
On Friday Union health ministry too wrote a letter to the states and UTs saying home isolation cannot be allowed for all
Covid-19 patients as a general practice and it has to be based on the recommendation of a doctor and only if the patient has appropriate home conditions to isolate.
“Some instances have been noticed where home isolation is allowed in a routine manner in certain States, and clauses of the Revised Guidelines are not followed in letter and spirit. This may lead to spread of the disease within the family members and neighbors, more so in urban settings such as dense urban agglomerations,” ministry said in its letter to states and union territories.
The new order is expected to create some ripples as states like Delhi that are struggling to arrange beds for positive patients in view of daily rising numbers, will find it even more difficult to accommodate such patients who can otherwise be allowed to stay in the comforts of their homes. Besides, this may also lead to patients hiding their illness because given the cost of private hospitals and poor conditions of government hospitals not all are keen to be admitted.