'Smart quarantine' project to be implemented in Prague and north Moravia next week

Prague, April 3 (CTK) – The smart quarantine project for identifying people potentially infected with the new coronavirus, which is tested in South Moravia, will be applied in northern Moravia and Prague at the end of next week, Deputy Health Minister Roman Prymula told Czech Radio (CRo) today.

In the following week, or after Easter, the project should concern the whole country, said Prymula who focuses on the project.

With the consent of the infected persons, their movement and contacts in the past five days would be mapped using the data from their cell phones and payment cards.

Prymula said all parts of the project were launched in the South Moravia region, but its electronic component has not been used very much so far.

The project could start functioning properly in this region after Easter, South Moravia sanitary station head David Krivanek said.

Prymula said about 150 samples have been taken within the project.

Data from banks are not available yet, but Prymula said he believes these data will be included in future.

The banks asked the Czech National Bank and the Office for the Protection of Personal Data (UOOU) to give their stance on the providing of the data.

The Czech military takes part in the smart quarantine project.

If the project is successful, it might replace the restrictive measures concerning nearly everybody in the whole country, which makes everyday life complicated and affects the economy.

More than 67,000 coronavirus tests have been carried out in Czechia so far and about 4,100 tested positive for COVID-19.