On Wednesday, Delhi high court sought response from the AAP government on a petition by a man who was asked to spend above 30 days in home quarantine as he came into contact with a pizza delivery boy in south Delhi last month.

Justice C Hari Shankar has issued a notice to the authorities on the petition enquiring about the manner the COVID-19 quarantine guidelines are been enforced.

In his petition, Amit Bhargava said he was one of those people who had come in contact with the coronavirus infected delivery person from the 72 families. From the time when the contact-tracing was revealed Bhargava had come in contact with the pizza delivery boy on 24th March. An order was issued regarding his home quarantine as the case was discovered on 15th April, which was more than 20 days after he had 1st contact with the pizza delivery person.

According to the rules, home quarantine for 14 days is needed from the day of exposure, and not from the day, it is detected as a positive case.

The notice was pasted on Bhargava’s house declaring that he was under quarantine from 24th March to 20th April. His neighbors questioned him that why he was not following quarantine since 24th March, as mentioned in the petition. He argued that the infected delivery person was diagnosed with COVID-19 in mid-April.

The petition argued about the manner in which the government is calculating the quarantine period indicated as “non-application of mind”. When he pointed this to the local authorities, a fresh home quarantine notice was pasted on Bhargava’s door on 17th April. And the quarantine period was mentioned on it was April 14-28.

The petition read that the imposition of a 35-day quarantine period on a person who just had a single defined point of contact with the infected person, and who is living alone, appears to be arbitrary and reflects non-application of mind. Calculation and imposition of home quarantine period on the petitioner is contrary to the guidelines for home quarantine issued by the ministry of health and family welfare.

The petition had sought directions to Delhi government to strictly observe to the said guidelines and follow the procedure, “when issues of liberty are at stake.”

However, high court has refused to issue notice on Bhargava’s specific petition that the government should formulate a policy, which enables people in home quarantine to have access to private labs for COVID-19 testing. Justice Hari Shankar said that the court cannot intervene in a matter of policy.

Bhargava alleged that during the entire quarantine period, he was neither tested for coronavirus infection, nor even allowed to step out for testing in a private laboratory.

Source: ET Healthworld