The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed that a family that had returned from the United Kingdom be sent for home quarantine as opposed to institutional quarantine despite testing negative for Covid-19.
A single-judge bench of the High Court presided over by Justice Prathiba M. Singh directed the Delhi government to ask the Indira Gandhi International Airport to display the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) regarding the same prominently on their website to avoid confusion.
“Since there is no clarity and the family includes two minors they shall remain in home quarantine instead of institutional quarantine,” said the judge. While the matter was being heard through video conferencing, the counsel appearing for the Centre apprised the court that its guidelines only mandate 14-days home quarantine for travellers from the UK if they test negative.
The Delhi government through its counsel, however, countered the claim saying that it was following the SOP issued by the Home Ministry which asks all passengers sitting close to a traveller who tested positive for Covid-19 to be sent to institutional quarantine.
The court also said that since there is no clarity about the SOP and the petitioners (family) include two minor children below the age of 10 years, they shall remain in home quarantine instead of institutional quarantine. They shall strictly adhere to the quarantine norms.
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After passing the orders, the single judge disposed of the plea filed by the aggrieved family challenging the action taken against them. The plea has said that before boarding from United Kingdom, the family had undergone a Covid-19 test which had come out to be negative.
However, when they landed in Delhi, they were tested again and the second result also came out to be Covid-19 negative but even after this they were sent for institutional quarantine that too at their cost a 5-star hotel instead of home quarantine as sought by them.