COVID-19: Chennai corporation to stop tracking cellphones to detect quarantine violators – The New Indian Express

Express News Service

CHENNAI: The city corporation will no longer track the cell phone locations of those under home quarantine and isolation to detect violation of norms. The civic body has instead turned to its volunteers to keep a tab on residents under quarantine.

The corporation has so far booked 90 people, including those who were supposed to quarantine themselves, for violating norms.

Earlier, the city corporation had used an app to alert officials and the local police, whenever a person under home isolation or quarantine was found to move 50 metres or more from their designated area, by tracking their cell phone locations. However, they have stopped using this system after it threw up some false alerts.

“We found that in some cases, the patients were discharged from the hospitals and would leave for their houses. But the system would track them using the tower nearest to the hospital and alert them that he or she is violating,” said a corporation official.

Now, officials have asked their ‘Focus’ (Friends of Covid Persons Under Surveillance) volunteers to keep a tab on those who are home quarantined or isolated and check if they are leaving their homes.

“The number of people violating quarantine has come down drastically so we are not going on an overdrive with this,” said a senior corporation official.

In most cases, the reasons for the violation were not malicious and were done for emergencies, say volunteers.

“They mostly step out to buy medicines and for check ups. Now, all that will come down because we have been asked to help them with that,” said a volunteer working in the Pulianthope area.

“Even yesterday, there was an old woman who needed medical help so we brought the doctor designated for our ward to her house to treat her,” he added.

The city corporation has designated a total of around 3500 volunteers to take care of the needs of those under quarantine and keep them indoors.