New Delhi, June 20: A plea was moved in the Delhi High Court on Saturday against an order issued by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal to make five-day institutional quarantine mandatory for asymptomatic COVID-19 patients. The petition called for judicial intervention, claiming that the implementation of L-G's order would further aggravate the shortage of hospital beds in the national capital.

The plea states that such "harsh directions" are forcing patients to undergo five days institutional quarantine, especially when the government is unable to provide "adequate number of beds and nurses" to patients who are in dire need of hospitalisation.

Update by ANI

L-G Baijal, in an order issued on Friday, reversed the decision taken by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal earlier this month to end the institutional quarantine for COVID-19 patients not showing any symptoms related to the disease.

The decision was aimed at encouraging larger number of tests among the suspected asymptomatic cases, while also relaxing the pressure on Delhi's health infrastructure.

The L-G, however, annulled the changes made by Kejriwal through his order issued yesterday. "5 days institutional quarantine of each case under home quarantine is to be made mandatory and thereafter will be self for home isolation except in cases where symptoms require further hospitalisation," the order said.

See L-G Anil Baijal's Order on Mandatory Quarantine

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator Raghav Chadha marked his dissent against the L-G's order earlier today, claiming that the national capital would face an estimated shortage of 90,000 beds if the order of institutional quarantine for asymptomatic patients is implemented.

Apart from the AAP government, the Resident Welfare Associations (RWA) have also marked their apprehensions over the L-G's decision. Representatives of 25 major RWAs wrote to the Lieutenant Governor on Saturday, asking him to reconsider the order on institutional quarantine as majority of asymptomatic suspected patients would "avoid testing out of fear".

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 20, 2020 05:42 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).