Coronavirus crisis: Andhra Pradesh govt tracking mobile phones of home-quarantined people

Andhra Pradesh government has started tracking its citizens who are in-home quarantine amid a rising number of coronavirus cases in the state. The tool is called "COVID Alerting Tracking System", which uses signals of mobile towers to track people's location.

Through this technology, Andhra Pradesh is tracking at least 25,000 people, reported ANI. The state government has taken the base location as the actual location of a person's residence. If any of these persons travel beyond a 100-metre radius from the location, the district authorities get an alert and the required action is taken. This way, the state government ensures each person abides by the rules.

In Andhra Pradesh, 23 confirmed coronavirus cases have emerged as of March 31, 9 AM, while one person has been cured.

The Andhra government is also tracking the travel history of COVID-19 positive cases by using the same data and mobile tower signals. With the help of COVID-19 patients' phone numbers and service providers, the authorities are mapping all places where they visited prior to the test. After that, places are being categorised on the basis of time spent by them. This procedure helps set-up red zones within 2-3 km radius and sanitise them.

So far, the Andhra government has mapped all locations where the 23 coronavirus patients visited. Telangana, Odisha and Bihar are also contemplating adopting the Andhra Pradesh model to combat the deadly virus. India has registered as many as 1,353 total coronavirus cases till now, including 32 deaths.

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