The Delhi government has developed the ‘Home Quarantine App’ to monitor the real-time location of quarantined individuals and is in the process of developing the ‘Containment Survey App’ to keep an eye on those residing in over two dozen COVID-19hostspots or containment zones across the Capital.
The objective of both apps, whose development is being supervised by Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev, is to ensure that residents of such zones do not travel beyond their boundaries, risking the possible community spread of the virus.
“While downloading the Home Quarantine App, which is currently in operation at such locations which fall under the jurisdiction of the South revenue district and will be extended across the city in the days to come, is voluntary at the moment, using it may be made mandatory if and when the need to do so arises,” said a government official. In cases of the home quarantined, the official stated if their phones aren’t with them for some reason, random phone calls to family members and neighbours in addition to selfies, if required, will be asked for by the government to ascertain their location within the designated zones.
“Modalities related to the ‘Containment Survey App’, which will rely on neighbours to provide information on those residing in the vicinity of their homes in such zones and vice versa, are being finalised. This too will be operationalised soon,” the official also said.
The government said teams with adequate protection as per latest Ministry of Health and Family Welfare guidelines will be sent to each of the houses to check for flu-like symptoms along with those with travel history or history of attending community events.
The location tracking of a particular user will start the moment these apps are downloaded and, if a person quarantined travels 50-100 metres beyond a pre-set position, an alarm will be sent to the authorities on a dashboard which is divided into sub-divisions.
