Asia deploys innovative, if invasive, tech to curb virus
Asia deploys innovative, if invasive, tech to curb virus
Jerome Taylor and AFP reporters • March 19, 2020
Hong Kong is using tech to track the coronavirus
When Hong Kong stylist Declan Chan flew home from Zurich earlier
this week he was greeted by officials who placed an electronic device on his
arm.
The wristband was connected to an app that he had to install on
his phone as he headed into two weeks of compulsory self-quarantine at home.
It allows authorities to check his location as Hong Kong tries
to halt fresh infections from people returning from overseas after two months
of making impressive headway against its own outbreak.
Speaking to AFP by phone from home Chan, 36, said he was getting used to having
a tracker that alerts authorities if he leaves his apartment.
"That's a bit mind boggling," he said. "But I
would rather be in home quarantine than in a government centre."
Hong Kong's health authorities have held daily briefings on the
outbreak. But the new bracelets were announced in a late night government press
statement on Monday with little fanfare.
Some 5,000 wristbands were ready for use with another 55,000 on
their way, authorities said.
On Thursday, Hong Kong began ordering all arrivals from overseas
to wear the bracelets.
- Live maps and tracing -
The city is not alone in using such measures.
South Korea, China, Taiwan and Singapore -- all of which have
had success in curbing the spread of the coronavirus -- have employed a range
of tech solutions.
Taiwan's centralised epidemic control centre links multiple
government agencies and uses big data to look for potential carriers and
monitor those quarantining.
Smartphones with GPS are given to those isolating at home, with
local officials tracking them via the Line messaging app.
Warning text messages are sent to those who break quarantine and
the tracking system is connected with local police departments. Transgressors
risk a fine of up to TW$1 million ($33,000) and having their names published.
South Korea has a similar app, although it is voluntary.
Singapore has a team of dedicated digital detectives monitoring
those quarantining as well to trace where confirmed carriers have travelled to.
"Everywhere we go, we do leave a digital signature, be it
from the cash we draw, or the use of the ATM card or the credit card,"
Leong Hoe Nam, an infectious disease doctor in Singapore, told PRI earlier this
month as he explained how the team worked.
Both Singapore and Hong Kong release live details of which
buildings have had confirmed COVID-19 cases.
- Privacy warning -
The measures are effective at slowing infections but raise
privacy concerns.
Maya Wang, a China specialist at Human Rights Watch, said even
during crises laws to track people should meet three criteria: legality,
proportionality and necessity.
Transparent and democratic governments tended to have a better
track record of checks and balances, she said.
"In places like China you see the most intrusive measures
and the most arbitrary outcomes," she said.
But she drew a comparison with the aftermath of the September 11
attacks when sweeping and often draconian anti-terror measures were enacted by
many nations.
"Emergencies often provide the best opportunities for the
subversion of democratic principles," she added.
China has deployed the most sweeping and troubling tech to
combat the virus.
Various cities and provinces last month began introducing a
system of coloured QR codes that must be downloaded on mobile phones to aid in
tracking people's movements.
Green indicates a clean bill of health, yellow means the bearer
may have visited a high-risk virus area within the past 14 days and is subject
to closer inspection, while red indicates quarantine is necessary.
There has been scant public explanation of how the information
is obtained, other than vague references to big data, presumably by tracking a
person's history of online payments, which have rapidly replaced cash in China.
Government announcements have made clear that the coding system
will remain in use in some form even after the pandemic subsides.
Europe is also searching for tech options as it scrambles to
halt spiralling infections.
On Wednesday a team of experts at the University of Oxford
announced they were working with several European governments to explore an app
for instant contact tracing that could be deployed with "appropriate
ethical considerations".
"Current strategies are not working fast enough to
intercept transmission of coronavirus," said Professor Christophe Fraser
from the university's Big Data Institute.
"To effectively tackle this pandemic we need to harness
21st century technology."
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