‘Phones of people under quarantine to be monitored’
SURVEILLANCE Delhi government gives 14,345 contact numbers to be monitored to police on Wednesday in addition to 11,084 it shared on Tuesday
NEWDELHI: Mobile phones of more than 24,000 individuals in Delhi, who are presently under quarantine to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, will be put under surveillance to check for quarantine violation. Experts said that while there is no precedent in the country on tracking people for such a reason, the government mus respect people’s right to privacy. Police said they were yet to be notified on the move.
Mobile phones of more than 24,000 individuals in Delhi, who are presently under quarantine to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, will be put under surveillance to check for quarantine violation.
Experts said that while there is no precedent in the country on tracking people for such a reason, the government mus respect people’s right to privacy. Police said they were yet to be notified on the move.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said security agencies will go through patients’ GPS locations to determine if they are respecting quarantine protocols.
“We have seen several developed nation track phones of their quarantined patients to check against violations and the method seems to have worked. In a meeting with the lieutenantgovernor, we too have decided to adopt it. We have already provided 11,084 phone numbers to the police and another set of 14,345 numbers will be provided today (Wednesday),” he said. “We had to take such strict measures considering how the virus has spread across countries.”
A senior police officer said, “We are yet to be notified about the announcement made by the CM regarding electronic surveillance on quarantined people. As and when we are informed about it, necessary steps would be taken to implement it.”
Category A persons – individuals who have returned from coronavirus-affected nations and are symptomatic— and their contacts are isolated in government facilities. But, asymptomatic persons – classified under Category B and C – are either asked to go for self-quarantine at their residences or remain isolated in government centres, depending on their travel history and other factors that include age and other ailments, as per the guidelines issued by the Union health ministry.
In Delhi, till Wednesday, the virus has infected 152 individuals, Kejriwal said. “Of these, 49 had a travel history to an affected nation, 29 were people who came into their direct contact and 24 are cases originating from the Markaz gathering in Nizamuddin,”
read astatement from the chief minister’s office. A recently held religious congregation in Nizamuddin has led to many who attended the event contracting the virus.
Experts raised concerns about possible violation of privacy rights.
“There have been no past pandemics (like the Covid-19) to set a precedent. Law and order authorities have always had access to call detail records and locations, which now form the basis of many investigations and charge sheets. In the present case, with the invocation of the Epidemic Act, there is even a plausible legal cover, for this action, which maybe justified as checking for possible violations of the Act,” senior Supreme Court lawyer Sanjay Hegde said.
Srinivas Kodali, a researcher on data and governance, said: “The government has pushed the burden onto individuals. Instead of helping them go through quarantine, the government is forcing its might onto victims. Such exercises do not build trust and could actually lead to more people jumping quarantine and keeping their phones turned off.”
RATION FOR POOR
Kejriwal also said poor people in Delhi, who do not have a ration card yet, can apply online and get ration from fair price shops starting this month with the help of the acknowledgement receipt. He pegged the number of such people at 1 million. Delhi already has 7.1 million beneficiaries under the public distribution system of essential items.