Mr Chadha was responding to a Friday order by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal that said all patients infected with the virus must be quarantined for at least five days at government facilities before being allowed to self-isolate at home.
New Delhi, June 20:
Delhi will need to find 90,000 beds for coronavirus patients within 10 days if all cases are required to undergo a mandatory five-day institutional quarantine, AAP leader Raghav Chadha warned today. The AAP leader pointed out that the Delhi government was already struggling to find the 15,000 beds required by June 30.
Mr Chadha was responding to a Friday order by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal that said all patients infected with the virus must be quarantined for at least five days at government facilities before being allowed to self-isolate at home.
“Throughout the country, coronavirus patients with mild or no symptoms are recovering in home isolation. But now the central government is imposing a decree on Delhi that says every patient will be taken to a quarantine centre,” Mr Chadha said, adding that the order would also make people nervous about getting tested.
On Friday Lt Governor Anil Baijal, who heads the Delhi Disaster Management Authority, wrote to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying: “It was observed that home isolation without physical contact to monitor the patients may be a reason for increase in spread of increase in COVID-19 infections in Delhi”.
Delhi has reported over 53,000 COVID-19 cases so far following a steep daily rise in new cases over the past several days. Over 2,000 deaths have been linked to the virus in the national capital.
