People under home quarantine in Karnataka for the novel coronavirus have been asked to send selfies to the government every hour, NDTV reported on Tuesday. Violation of the order will lead to these individuals being shifted to government-run mass quarantine facilities, a state minister had said on Monday.
“All persons under home quarantine shall send their selfies to the government on a mobile application every hour,” Medical Education Minister DK Sudhakar told reporters. “Failing to do so, teams will reach such defaulters and they will be liable to be shifted to quarantine centres made by the government.”
The rule exempts people from sending the selfies between 10 pm and 7 am. A team of officials will monitor the photographs. They have to be sent using an app available on Google PlayStore.
The state government made the new rule after 10 people who were supposed to quarantine themselves at home in Bengaluru escaped and were later arrested from their hometowns. Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Commissioner BH Anil Kumar said a case has been registered against them.
Earlier this month, one person suspected to have been infected with Covid-19 escaped from a hospital in Mangaluru. He was traced after a team of police personnel launched a search.
The state has so far reported 83 cases of the coronavirus, including three deaths, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The nationwide number of cases is 1,251, and 32 people have died.
Karnataka has placed around 43,000 people under watch for signs of the virus. About 30,000 have completed their 14-day home quarantine. As many as 142 have been shifted to mass quarantine.
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