Coronavirus home quarantine cannot be restricted to 14 days: Delhi HC

Delhi High Court has held that home quarantine period for Covid-19 patients cant be limited to mandatory 14 days only as re is certainty about virus' virulence, gestation period or time taken for an infected person to manifest symptoms.

Justice C Hari Shankar said that at a time when Covid-19 or coronavirus has left global community "befuddled" and ministration here is "traversing uncharted territory", it needs to be given requisite freedom or "play in joints" to formulate and implement its policy to deal with pandemic.

" executive must, in such a circumstance, be afforded requisite play in joints, so as to formulate and implement its policy, as meaningfully and efficiently as possible. Absent any legal or constitutional infraction, courts have to be slow in subjecting executive action taken in context of COVID-19 crisis to searching judicial scrutiny," court said.

"In this background, this court is unwilling to hold that in each and every case, period of home quarantine must stand limited to 14 days and more," it ded.

court held however that any person t displaying coronavirus symptoms r has tested positive for disease, if quarantined for more than 14 days, can represent against it to authorities who have to eir give reasons for it or lift restriction.

court's observations and directions came while disposing of plea questioning manner in which authorities were implementing quarantine guidelines as one of 72 families, which h contact with a coronavirus infected pizza delivery person, was put in quarantine for over 30 days.

order came on petition by a photo-journalist, Amit Bhargava, who was put in quarantine from midnight of March 24-25, when he h first contact with delivery person, till April 28 -- for a period of over 30 days as against stipulated 14 days.

His lawyer, Shyel Trehan, h told court re was justification to put her client under quarantine of more than 14 days from April 14 as his first contact was on March 24-25 and he h t tested positive for Covid-19 within 14 days from n.

court said that "arithmetically and logically speaking" she h a point, however, virus was "presently t kwn to subscribe to dictates eir of arithmetic or of logic". PTI HMP SKV SA