(source: SME)
Our paywall policy:
The Slovak Spectator has decided to make all the articles on the special measures, statistics and basic information about the coronavirus available to everyone. If you appreciate our work and would like to support good journalism, please buy our subscription. We believe this is an issue where accurate and fact-based information is important for people to cope.
The app enabling smart quarantine is expected to be launched on Friday, May 22 at 15:00.
The Government’s Office has recommended that those planning to come to Slovakia should check the Korona.gov.sk website to see whether the app has been fully launched before they arrive at the border.
By using smart quarantine, the state will monitor people via their own mobile phones, using a free app that needs to be downloaded.
How will it work?
Before coming to the border, repatriates will have to fill in an online form at Korona.gov.sk and install the app on their smartphones.
They will enter the address where they plan to spend the mandatory quarantine, and the app will subsequently ask them to take a picture of themselves.
“The patrol on the border will then ask them to show that they have the app installed and scan a bar code,” said Ján Bučkuliak from the crisis staff. “They can then go home.”
However, police officers will check whether the mobile phone supports the app and has an internet connection, and whether the repatriate will have a mobile signal at the place he/she plans to spend quarantine.
Fine for violating quarantine
After arriving home, the repatriate should receive a text message or a notification, asking for confirmation that they are close to their mobile phone. They will then have several minutes to take their picture again.
“There will be a random interval and a random number of signalisations so that nobody could plan to leave town after being checked for, let’s say, five times,” Bučkuliak said.
If a person supposed to be in quarantine leaves home with the mobile phone, hygienists will receive a message.
“They won’t know where the person is, but will have information that they have violated quarantine,” Bučkuliak said when explaining how the state will use personal data.
If the users ignore the text messages, hygienists or police officers may initiate an inspection. If the quarantine violation is confirmed, people may be fined up to €1,650.
Those in home quarantine will be entitled to a coronavirus test after five days.
Only people having smartphones with Android or iOS operation systems will be able to enter smart quarantine. This option will not be open to people using old phones that do not support the app.
©Sme
Read more about the coronavirus outbreak in Slovakia:
Author: SME.sk
