New Delhi, June 20: The controversial order issued by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal to make 5-day institutional quarantine compulsory for asymptomatic COVID-19 patients was withdrawn on Saturday. The rollback came amid vehement opposition to the order by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. Plea in Delhi HC Challenges L-G's Order of 5-Day Mandatory Quarantine for Asymptomatic COVID-19 Patients.

"Regarding institutional isolation, 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," said a statement issued by the L-G on Saturday to amend his earlier order.

L-G Baijal, in the now-withdrawn order issued on Friday, reversed the policy enacted by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal earlier this month for asymptomatic cases. While the latter had announced home isolation for those tested with coronavirus but are not exhibiting any symptoms, Baijal's order made five-day institutional quarantine compulsory.

Institutional Isolation Not Mandatory in Asymptomatic Cases: L-G

The AAP government had marked its dissent against the L-G's order last night and called upon the Centre to intervene. Party legislator Raghav Chadha claimed that if the order on compulsory quarantine is implemented, it would not only discourage testings, but also lead to acute shortage of beds.

"As per our calculation, Delhi needs 15,000 beds by June 30 but after this order, now we need 90,000 beds by June 30. From where will we get 90,000 beds?" Chadha asked.

The COVID-19 tally in Delhi has crossed the 50,000-mark and the death toll exceeds 2,000. As per the official count issued by the Health Department, the number of total cases has reached 53,116. According to Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, the number of cases may exponentially rise to 5 lakh by the end of July.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 20, 2020 06:10 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).