People who have come in contact with a Covid-19 patient but have enough space at home to remain isolated from others can stay quarantined at home and will not be shifted to government-run quarantine facilities, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Monday.

The home isolation option will not apply to Covid-positive cases.

Primary and secondary contacts who live together in a small space --- and can therefore not be quarantined at home, maintaining a safe physical distance from the others --- will be shifted to government-run quarantine facilities. Others will be allowed to stay at home, Mamata said.

“Those who have adequate space at home can remain quarantined in their homes if someone from the home tests positive for Covid-19. It spares the government the burden of shifting more people (to quarantine facilities). You cannot take lakhs and lakhs of people to quarantine centres. The government has its limits,” Mamata said.

“Also, people are happy and stay better if they stay at their homes. If they decide to remain isolated without mixing with anyone else, then home quarantine is the best model. We will shift those who live with 20 others in one room to government quarantine because if we leave them at home, they cannot stay isolated from one another.”

Against the backdrop of social media interpretations and some political handles adding colour, the state government has issued a formal order to ensure clarity.

“It is hereby advised that from now on, the primary/secondary contacts of Covid-19-positive cases and who have reasonable living/physical spaces in their homes may be put under home quarantine instead of institutional quarantine,” the order issued by health secretary Vivek Kumar said.

It stated that even in home quarantine, people would be under the “close surveillance of the local health authorities and their health status will be monitored closely, for appropriate interventions as may be necessary”.

The order specified that “this does not apply to Covid-positive cases who are mandatorily to be brought to the designated Covid hospital.”

Earlier in the afternoon, Mamata had said that some people desist from revealing their contacts.

“They fear they will be taken to quarantine centres despite having space at home if they say they came in contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19. There is a mental and psychological tension behind their actions. Our decision will release them of the tension,” the chief minister said.

But Mamata added that such people should voluntarily submit themselves to the government screening process so that the health department can stay in touch with them and suggest the safety measures they need to take.

Sources have said the government’s quarantine facility near Calcutta — the NBCC Square at New Town — has filled up.

Calcuttans are being asked to choose between staying quarantined at pay-and-use quarantine facilities within the city and free facilities at Barasat. The Calcutta Municipal Corporation is setting up two quarantine facilities.

At Monday’s news conference, the chief minister said that “in some countries, even positive persons are staying at home and getting treated from home”.

A doctor working with the state government said that as the beds in hospitals get occupied, an option may have to be kept open where only the more serious patients are admitted to hospital and the rest treated at home.

“We know by now that 80 per cent of Covid-19-infected people can recover without hospital care. So, these people need not overwhelm hospitals by remaining admitted. The hospital beds should be kept free for patients whose condition needs hospital care, oxygen support or ventilator support,” the doctor said.

“Initially everyone was admitted as the cases were few. As the cases rise, it should be left to the doctors to decide whom to admit after assessing the patients’ conditions,” said the doctor.