Turkey to track coronavirus patients via mobile phone application to enforce quarantines

Duvar English

Turkeywill monitor the mobile phones of those diagnosed with the newcoronavirus to ensure they do not break quarantine, authorities saidon April 8, marking the latest measure to stem an outbreak that hassurged over the last month.

Turkey will start tracking citizens and send them a message and call them each time they leave their homes under a project called “Pandemic Isolation Tracking Project,” the presidency's Communications Directorate said.

“The Health Ministry put the Epidemic Isolation Tracking Project into effect, to monitor the patients and warn them if necessary. Obtaining the necessary permission within the statutory authority, the project was put into practice with the cooperation of the Health Ministry, Information and Communication Technologies Authority [BTK] and all GSM operators. The project aims to track if coronavirus positive cases are abiding by the isolation rules, which is necessary for their own health, their closed ones' health and the health of the whole society,” it said.

A day earlier, on April 7, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said that authorities had developed a mobile phone application that will follow-up on the coronavirus positive cases and monitor their movement. “We will follow the people who need to be isolated at home via digital means. We have also completed the preparations of a system that will let us warn the individuals immediately when necessary,” he said.

A day later, the Turkish presidency's Communication Directorate announced the details of the project, saying that coronavirus patients self-isolating at home will be asked to return to their houses if they violate the quarantine rules and police will impose a fine if they continue not to abide by the rules.

The directorate also said that Turkish law allows for processing of personal data without consent for "exceptional aims." It said the government will ensure that the personal data collected will not be used for any other aim.

Sincethe first one was confirmed on March 11, Turkey's coronavirus caseshave surged to more than 34,000 with 725 deaths as of April 7.

Ankarahas taken strict measures to limit social contact, quarantining sometowns, banning mass prayers, closing schools, bars and restaurantsand limiting inter-city travel.

PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdoğan has repeatedly called on citizens to imposetheir own quarantine but stopped short of imposing a broadstay-at-home order.