A day after restricting admissions in most Delhi hospitals to locals, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal isolated himself owing to fever and cough on Monday. His deputy Manish Sisodia announced that he would be tested for the coronavirus on Tuesday.

Sisodia announced on Monday that he would be attending a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority on Tuesday, where discussions are scheduled to take place on whether community transmission has begun in the capital.

Sisodia said: “Arvind Kejriwal ji is not keeping well. He has a sore throat and mild fever. He has self-quarantined and will take the test tomorrow. But he is also of the view that this meeting is crucial as it will help us ascertain if Delhi has entered the community spread stage of Covid-19 and our entire strategy to deal with the pandemic is going to change. The chief minister wants this meeting to take place, and he has authorised me to attend this meeting.”

If Kejriwal tests positive, then the entire cabinet could have to go into quarantine. The government finds itself doubly isolated after restricting testing largely to symptomatic people, and the entry bar on hospitals.

The head of the Press Information Bureau, K. S. Dhatwalia, was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences on Monday after testing positive for the virus.

Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, and Prakash Javadekar, who addressed a presser with Dhatwalia on Wednesday, are also likely to go into quarantine.