Those in the habit of breaking COVID-19 home quarantine and roaming outside, may find it difficult to do so any more, with the city Corporation launching a mobile application for round-the-clock tracking of quarantined persons.
The geo-fencing application, which will be installed on the phones of people under quarantine, will track their movement using Global Positioning System (GPS), and alert the civic body if they move out of the designated area.
GPS system
In the initial days of quarantining, , quite a few of the people under quarantine were spotted at shops and junctions near their homes. After a few such instances, the Corporation thought of using a GPS system to track them, making it one of the first civic bodies in the country to implement it.
“Ensuring that people stay in quarantine has been one of the major issues for us. This mobile application works in two levels. It will be installed in the mobile phones of the volunteers who have been tasked with ensuring that the people remain in quarantine. It will also be installed in the mobiles of the quarantined persons. Both these can be tracked using the GPS from the main office. When the person moves out of the house or switches off the mobile phone, we will get an alert,” says a Corporation health official.
The information regarding persons in quarantine have been added to the application. Details on each persons, the reasons for which they are under quarantine, other illnesses which could be exacerbated due to COVID-19 and such information are collected in the application.
A publicly accessible quarantine dashboard has been made available on the website www.covid19tvm.com , where the number of individuals under quarantine in each ward, number of volunteers in the field, and even an age-wise quarantine split up have been made available, without revealing any personal information.
People under quarantine
Among those under quarantine in the city are a 101-year old, two transgender persons, and two pregnant women.
A heat map has also been prepared for the public to take extra care in areas near people under quarantine.
