J&K’s 77 ‘red zones’ under increased Covid-19 surveillance, real-time tracking on

Jammu and Kashmir officials asked to use Aarogya Setu app to help people identify their risk of catching Covid-19.

Doctors wearing protective gear check the temperature of visitors at the entrance of a hospital (representational Image)| PTI

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir administration has heightened surveillance in 77 areas of the union territory designated as Covid-19 red zones, through interviews of residents and digital surveillance technologies.

Red zones are areas with high number of cases and thus require greater containment and monitoring of the people’s physical movement and health.

According to a government order issued Tuesday by J&K Chief Secretary B.V.R. Subrahmanyam, officials have been asked to put red zone inhabitants on real-time intelligence surveillance by tracking their mobile devices to keep a check on their physical movement.

The officials have also been asked to employ the Aarogya Setu mobile app to help people identify their risk of contracting the coronavirus.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s app is designed to register movements of people on a real-time basis. When an individual tests positive for Covid-19, the app users who might have crossed the person’s path are notified.

The health screening/surveillance section in the order specifies that entire red zones must be put under surveillance and people contacted periodically to check for symptoms.

“There would be 100% survey and screening of all persons in the red zone. Surveillance procedure has been issued and will be reissued with improvements. The results of the survey shall be integrated with Aarogya Setu as much as possible,” the order said.

Red zone focus

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended the nationwide lockdown till 3 May, senior government officials told ThePrint that special emphasis will be laid on J&K’s red zones of which 65 are in Kashmir valley.

The red zones will be further divided into small sub-zones or segments comprising a minimum of 100 households, and control rooms will be established in the zones as well.

According to the Tuesday order, the red zones will be put under a 100 per cent lockdown and shall be completely sealed with no outward and inward movement. There will be only one entry into red zones which will be for essential supplies, medical emergencies, fumigation and enforcement, the officials said.

“A declared area shall remain a red zone as long as up to 28 days after the date on which the last positive case from the area is tested negative. Contact tracing, identification, mapping, testing and fumigation are some of the activities we will be focusing on the next few days,” said a senior government official, who did not wish to be named.

The official added that special focus will be on the elderly and pregnant women. ASHA workers of the particular areas will be roped in for assistance to track people. Social, religious and cultural gatherings will remain banned, said a second senior official, who too didn’t wish to be identified.

On Tuesday, images of government officials erecting iron poles on roads to block traffic drew criticism from local residents on social media as they said this would hamper essential services and movement of ambulances.

In response, the Srinagar administration tweeted, “We wish to clarify that 2-3 entry/exit points are kept open in all Red Zones for Essential Services/Movement of people or officials/Surveillance/Emergency. Teams stationed locally. Several instances of damage/removal of barricades during nights necessitated locking few locations.”

We wish to clarify that 2-3 entry/exit points are kept open in all Red Zones for Essential Services/Movement of people or officials/Surveillance/Emergency. Teams stationed locally. Several instances of damage/removal of barricades during nights necessitated locking few locations. https://t.co/0IVgmNjY9B

— Srinagar district administration (@srinagaradmin) April 14, 2020

Aarogya Setu ‘privacy concerns’ 

Apart from the J&K order urging officials to use Aarogya Setu, PM Modi too urged Indians in his address to the nation Tuesday to use the app.

However, privacy concerns have been raised about the application.

The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), a New Delhi-based advocacy group focused on digital rights and liberties, in its working paper released last week said the privacy policy of the application failed to restrict its scope of purpose limitation.

“The primary purpose is to inform users if they are at risk of COVID-19 exposure. However, the Government is also allowed to share the personal information with “other necessary and relevant persons”, for “necessary medical and administrative interventions” which suggests interdepartmental exchanges of people’s personal information. This is more excessive than countries like Singapore and even Israel,” said the IFF paper.

“This exchange of information of personally identifiable information among people’s devices certainly adds to the vulnerability. It adds to the number points of attack for malicious actors,” the paper added.

While the J&K administration has asked officials to integrate collected information with Aarogya Setu, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs’ 4 April communication to chief secretaries of all union territories asking them to raise awareness and encourage people to download the app was not sent to Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

A third J&K official ThePrint spoke to said the reason “might be because downloading the application on 2G service is a little time consuming”.

High-speed mobile internet, which was suspended in the erstwhile state in August 2019, continues to remain banned in J&K.

28-day quarantine?

In another development, the administration is planning to increase the mandatory quarantine period under the government’s observation for Covid-19 from 14 to 28 days.

The first official quoted above said health staffers have come across patients who tested positive for the virus despite remaining asymptomatic beyond their non-hospital quarantine period of 14 days. This also included a batch of non-local Tablighi Jamaat members and a couple from south Kashmir’s Shopian area.

Also, a majority of people who were under government observation remained asymptomatic, including the 270 individuals who later tested positive.

“Around 80 per cent of cases that we have in Kashmir are asymptomatic. There could be many reasons for this but one is that most of our cases are contacts of the few index cases we have,” said Dr Salim Khan, head of social and preventive medicine department at Srinagar’s SMHS Hospital.

“We have noticed that most people simply don’t show any symptoms during what is referred to as the incubation period of the virus which is day 2 to day 14 after catching the infection,” added Khan.