The government has made use of the data to declare a micro-containment zone in Ludhiana after tracing movement of several patients. (Express Photo by Amit Mehra)

The Punjab government is using mobile tower location of Covid-19 positive patients to trace their movement over 15 days, and to use it for declaring micro-containment zones.

The state government has partnered with IIT-Madras experts to intensify surveillance through data procured from telecom companies, to identify super-spreader gatherings. Based on this data, the micro-containment zones will be declared.

The micro-containment zones are small pockets in a city like a street or a mohalla which are identified and all activity is sealed to check further spread of the disease.

Ajoy Sharma, ex-officio secretary, Health, Punjab told The Indian Express that they had tied up with IIT-Madras, and were providing them with data from telecom companies and getting the tower location. “This was enabling the IITians to check which all areas the Covid positive patient had gone to in the past.”

He added that this data was also collated with the data from COVA app. Those people entering Punjab from other parts of the country were also watched. “To ensure privacy, names of phone users were not given to the IIT experts. Only a number ID was given. It was then collated by local authorities to check where all the person had gone with the virus. This helps us identifying potential hot spots and we are prepared in advance instead of waking up to a spread later,” he said.

The technology is also being used to check movement of attendees in a super spreader party in a hotel or a restaurant. “Technically, we get an idea about a pink spot which have the potential of turning into a red spot. This is helping us,” Sharma said.

The government has made use of the data to declare a micro-containment zone in Ludhiana after tracing movement of several patients.

Sharma said the IIT had also helped Gujarat in giving heads up for a potential red spot in Ahmedabad and Surat. “The use of technology is being made in the big cities of Punjab as of now. It is more helpful in large cities with dense population.”

“With the help of the system, we will intensify our contact tracing. We will be able to know in advance where a spike could be there and we will take measures to check further spread. It is now a targeted approach. We are also training our people to evolve the system,” he added.