App to track those home-quarantined, says C’garh govt

RAIPUR: The police authorities in Chhattisgarh’s Janjgir-champa district have developed a mobile application in collaboration with a Noida-based start-up Mobcoder, which is being installed on every person’s cellular phone, who are quarantined at home for 14 days, in a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

Each quarantined person has been asked to upload a selfie on the app on an hourly basis. The surveillance mechanism ensures that the person’s location can be traced, as the app sends out an alert to a local police station if s/he moves out of the stipulated limit of 200 metres from her/his home.

The state government has issued a press release, which stated that about 7,000 people are under home quarantine i n Janjgir-champa district. Many of these people have recently returned from abroad or from other Covid-19 affected states in the country.

“A special team has developed a new application. If the homequarantined people turn off their phone or location or internet connection, the app sends out an alert to a police station,” the release said. Police and medical teams have been trained to use the app. “We are planning to extend the use of this app to other districts in Bilaspur range,” Dipanshu Kabra, inspector-general of police, Bilaspur range, told Hindustan Times. “The tracking will stop once their quarantine period ends,” said superintendent of police (SP) Janjgir Champa.

EACH QUARANTINED PERSON HAS BEEN ASKED TO UPLOAD A SELFIE ON THE APP EVERY HOUR. POLICE CAN TRACK HIS/HER LOCATION IF THE PERSON MOVES OUT