In light of a large number of people in quarantine violating the rules with impunity and putting the community at risk of contracting COVID-19, the State government is working on tagging those in home quarantine.
“We are creating a new app, which can also become a model for the country, in which persons under home quarantine will be tagged. Officials will know the movement of these people and will be alerted if the tag is cut or tampered with,” Revenue Minister R. Ashok, who is also in charge of handling COVID-19 for Bengaluru, told presspersons on Sunday. The tag will be tied around the person’s wrist and the app to monitor it is being developed and will be available to be implemented in a few days, he said.
“There have been large-scale violations by those in home quarantine. Such people left their phones at home when they stepped outside. There have been cases of those in institutional quarantine going out by scaling compound walls,” he added.
Lung condition
The Revenue Minister also said the State government was in talks with a company to provide technology to understand the condition of the lungs better and give results in about two minutes. “The lungs are scanned quickly and those with over 80% lung congestion can be sent for further COVID-19 testing. It has been done on an experimental basis in Yelahanka. A demonstration was given to the Chief Minister on Saturday, and now it has been referred to an expert committee. This can be fitted into any X-ray machine and is claimed to have had a 95% accuracy,” he said.
Mr. Ashok also said that 2,000 to 3,000 beds were being mapped and a chart was being prepared. “Each bed in a particular hospital will be given a permanent number. We do not know when COVID-19 will go away. But as long as it is there, the beds will also have a permanent number. A nodal officer will be appointed in the next two or three days and the BBMP Joint Commissioners will have information on their fingertips about the availability of beds. They will have powers to allocate patients to the beds available,” he said.
‘Immunity booster’
Stating that an alternative system of medicine has been implemented in other States, especially in Kerala, in their fight against COVID-19, the Minister said that an “immunity booster” would be distributed to the public in Bengaluru. He said that a demonstration on this was given by a team of doctors from a hospital in Basavangudi to the Chief Minister on Saturday.
