Karnataka Residents In Home Quarantine Asked To Upload Hourly Selfies

Harin - Apr 01, 2020


Karnataka Residents In Home Quarantine Asked To Upload Hourly Selfies

It seems like Karnataka has decided to take its surveillance to a whole new level by asking those in home quarantine to upload their hourly selfies.

In mid-March, the government of Karnataka had asked those who returned from COVID-19 affected countries to put themselves in home-quarantine for 14 days regardless of their symptoms. However, this had turned into a huge controversy after it was revealed that those the list of those returning from abroad was published in the public domain.

While the list didn’t reveal any names as well as contact details, the documents still showed other details such as date of arrival, final destination, quarantine destination, street, district, taluk, house/flat/door number, and the pin code.

Quarantine Stamp
The list of those returning from abroad was published in the public domain.

According to the data from the state’s Health and family welfare department, there are around 31,000 people are being home quarantined in Karnataka. Among these people, 24,000 are in Bengaluru.

Many had accused that move of the government as a breach of privacy and this would cause targeting and social isolation even when they didn’t have the disease.

And now, it seems like Karnataka has decided to take its surveillance to a whole new level by asking those in home quarantine to upload their hourly selfies. The order was stated in a recent circular.

The officials will then cross-check the selfie with their GPS data to see whether the person is at their house address. The quarantined people need to upload their hourly selfies on the Quarantine Watch, a new app from the government.

Karnataka Cm Control Room Pti 770x433
The officials will then cross-check the selfie with their GPS data to see whether the person is at their house address.

The order also stated that if the person failed to upload their hourly selfies, the government team would take that person to a quarantine facility.

A verification team will be in charge of examining the selfies. Sending fudged or wrong photos will also result in being shifted to a mass quarantine facility.

During house-to-house visits, the quarantine check team of the government will also use the app to take photos of the home-quarantined people and send them to the government.

The decision was made after the government received complaints about people in home quarantine were breaking regulations and roaming around.

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