Track system: Over 5,000 people at risk of contracting coronavirus

ISLAMABAD: More than 5,000 Pakistanis at risk of contracting coronavirus across the country have been identified by the government’s trace and track system developed by the intelligence agencies.

Earlier, PM Imran Khan announced that the officials were using a tracking system that was originally developed by the intelligence agencies to battle terrorism.

PM Khan said during a live TV telethon “The Inter-Services Intelligence has given us a great system for track and trace.” “It was originally used against terrorism, but now it has come in helpful against COVID-19,” PM added.

According to the head of the National Information Technology Board, Shabahat Shah, contact details of around 5,000 individuals have been shared with provincial governments and law enforcement agencies, who will reach those identified and validate the system’s accuracy.

The individuals include patients and those who may have come in contact with patients. Shabahat Shah further said “The system uses telco data to track movements of citizens at risk.

“As the radius of location based on cell tower tracing is pretty enormous to trace individuals, we are aiming to use the system’s algorithms to reduce the radius further for accuracy,” he said.

He said “Once all the information is received at the track centre, only non-identifiable details (such as phone number) are shared with the provincial and district officials to trace and quarantine those people”.

Separately, using cell tower tracing alone, around 560,000 at-risk people have been sent “CoronaAlert” text messages by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).