Thousands of people who are quarantined with symptoms of COVID-19, a majority of them with a foreign travel history in the last two months, across the State, will be linked in a mobile application designed to access their location live and restrict their movement with geo-fence technology.
In a joint operation, the Department of Health & Family Welfare and Tamil Nadu police accessed the details of at least 60,000 passengers who travelled abroad since February 1, 2020. The names with contact particulars were sent to the respective city/district in the State asking police/health officials to check the health status of the passengers and their family members.
“The immigration authorities have the details of passengers who arrived from foreign countries. We will make sure that these passengers who were advised isolation or home quarantine adhere to the health advisory. A special team will closely monitor their location and health condition. The geo-fence facility will alert us if the quarantined people move out of the designated place of isolation,” Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar said.
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He said prohibitory orders under Section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code would certainly help in breaking the chain of Corona virus spread in the community. Asked about senior citizens living alone, the Minister said all District Collectors were advised to do the needful to the elderly calling district helpline numbers for any assistance.
The app that can be downloaded on iOS and Android is part of a comprehensive technology solution mooted by a young IPS officer R. Rohith Nathan, Superintendent of Police, Sivaganga, and his wife Dr. Kaveri Subbiah, a paediatrician, to the Government of India last fortnight. The model was designed to track people who came in contact with those infected or having severe symptoms of COVID-19.
Though the plan includes analysis of the digital footprints of confirmed or suspected patients by perusing call details, tower locations to shortlist those who came in close contact with them, the State initially plans to launch geo-fence to control the spread of the virus and protect the uninfected population. There would be a feature for health officials to make a video call to a particular patient to check his/her health status live and prescribe medicines accordingly, official sources said.
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