Gurugram (Haryana), Nov 8 (IANS): Adopting a more scientific and social approach to check quarantined people amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the Gurugram police will soon conduct physical visits to check if quarantined people follow home quarantine guidelines. This will be done through geofencing technology.
Geofencing technology is a virtual boundary created around the person using a person's mobile phone locations.
If the person is found moving beyond the boundary, an alert is immediately generated. On the basis of the alert, police can take action or would visit their locations and ensure they are indoors, said a police official.
Gurugram Police chief K.K. Rao said if any patient is not found in home isolation during the police physical verification, action will be taken against the violators as per rules.
As per the guidelines by the government, the Covid-19 patients in home isolation have to follow quarantine rules until they recover from the infection.
However, health officials suspected that the infected patients usually didn't stay in home isolation and went outside, visiting markets and other crowded places due to which the infection is spread.
"Residents themselves know the dos and don'ts about the novel coronavirus. The Gurugram Police have already started extensive awareness campaigns about the virus for the safety of the residents. Now the cops will focus more on extensive contact tracing, physical visits at home isolation, strict enforcement and increase vigil in hotspot areas to trace Covid-19 cases," Rao said.
The safety of the police force from the virus is equally important and they are educating policemen through videos and other ways to remain safe from the virus, he added.
"For contact tracing, which is one of the important aspects of containing the spread of the novel coronavirus, the city police have started using the geofencing technology to track people who have been quarantined and an alert will be sent to the officials if anyone violates the quarantine rules," Rao added.
The district reported 33,778 confirmed Covid-19 cases following which nearly 4,261 people were in home isolation till Saturday.