K'taka govt to keep tabs on home quarantined via hourly selfies

Karnataka government is all set to keep track of all home quarantined persons through hourly selfies. According to reports, the state administration wants to keep a track of locations wherein people remain in quarantine.

Bengaluru:In order to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the state and to prevent any lapses in the lockdown guidelines, the BS Yediyurappa government in Karnataka has asked quarantined individuals to send selfies to government every hour!

According to reports, the state administration wants to keep a track of locations wherein people remain in quarantine.

K'taka government release

Photos and selfies generally contain the GPS coordinated which reveal the location of an individual. The same app will be sued by the health department to check up on those who have been ordered to quarantine at home.

"All persons under home quarantine shall send their selfies to the government on a mobile application in every one hour. Failing to do so, teams will reach such defaulters and they will be liable to be shifted to quarantine centres made by the government," Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar said.

Read:Coronavirus: Congress MP from Kerala moves SC for opening of borders with Karnataka

The home quarantine persons will be given an exception for taking selfies during the sleeping time from 10 pm to 7 am.

However, the issue has raised privacy concerns as government will be able to monitor every movement of an individual and may set a wrong precedent.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in Karnataka climbed to 88 on Monday after five more persons tested positive for coronavirus.

Of the five, one is a close contact of an earlier confirmed patient and the others are workers of a pharmaceutical company in Mysuru, from where a person had tested positive, the state health department said.

The country is under a 21-day lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus, which according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has infected 1,251 people so far.

(With inputs from PTI)