CHENNAI: After the cell phone tracking system proved to be a failure in tracking down locations of people under home quarantine, Chennai city corporation has now assigned dedicated volunteers called ‘Focus’ (Friends of Covid Persons Under Surveillance) to keep a tab on those who are home quarantined and check if they are leaving their homes.
Earlier, the city corporation was using an application to alert Corporation officials and local police whenever a person under home isolation or quarantine was found to move 50 metres or more from their designated area, by tracking their cell phone locations.
However, they have stopped using this system after it threw up some false alerts. So far, 90 persons were booked for violating quarantine norms.
“In some cases, we found that the patients were discharged from hospitals and would leave for their residences. But the system would track them using the tower nearest to the hospital and alert that he or she is violating norm,” said an official.
Now, after the introduction of ‘Focus’, police personnel’s jobs have become easier.
“The number of people violating quarantine has come down drastically, so we are not going on an overdrive with this,” said a senior official.
“We will now give them a helping hand to buy medicines or provide medical checkups at home. This will prevent them from stepping out and violating quarantine rules,” said a volunteer working in the Pulianthope area.
A total of 3,500 volunteers have been allotted to take care of the needs of those under quarantine and keep them indoors.