Spotted a person in public place with home quarantine stamp? Call 100

The Bangalore police is hunting down people violating the home quarantine rules to combat COVID-19. Such persons can be put behind bars for six months or pay a hefty fine or both. While some residents feel that the stamp could be hidden by gloves, the others recommend the Singapore model of contact tracing using GPS and bluetooth.

About 5000 people have been stamped to be under house arrest for 14 days. If you spot someone moving around in a public place with the stamp on their arm (check the expiry date first), call the police on 100. Acknowledging this news, police commissioner Bhaskar Rao tweeted that he has received calls about some home quarantined people moving around in BMTC buses and visiting restaurants. “Please call 100. These people will be picked up, arrested and sent to government quarantine,” Rao said.

While everyone is expected to stay home, those who are home quarantined need to particularly stay at home. Stepping out would mean endangering the rest of the people, just in case they develop symtoms and become a coronavirus patient. As the virus takes 14 days to show up, a patient who does not display any symptoms (dry cough, fever, and breathlessness) might end up spreading  the disease to several more, and lead to infecting an entire community. The cops will book such people violating the prohibitory orders under IPC 269 for being negligent and infecting the others.

To avoid people from hiding the quarantine stamp, some residents are suggesting that the stamping be done on their head as that cannot be hidden, and they don’t step out because of embarassment. Residents are also recommending the contact tracing approach of Singapore. Every citizen downloads the app and once you enable ‘location permission’, the community-driven contact tracing app will alert you if you are close to a quarantined person. Not only will you be safe, but also alert the authorities of a person violating the law. Another resident suggested tagging the person with GPS, and setting a perimeter, so the cops are alerted when they move out of their quarantine zone.

Presently, the authorities are using indelible ink, the sort that is used in elections and supposedly lasts for 21 days. Some residents are reporting that the ink is vanishing with just a few hand washes, while others are recommending that a quarantine facility should be set up outside Bangalore, so that they don’t violate the prohibitory orders. Some suggest big stadiums like Kanteerava or Chinnaswamy for holding quarantined people. Others recommend that there should be a special quarantine cell in jails for such a purpose.

Several residents are also asking the authorities to place an embargo on building construction activities as well since the workers congregate at one place, violating the ‘social distancing’ rule. Despite the lockdown announced for Bangalore for all commercial activities, many people have reported that several non-essential shops are functioning, and demanded prompt police action.

Many concerned residents are doing their bit to stay safe. They have given paid leave to their servants to stop the community spread. Others are tearing out the first page of the newspaper they receive, while others have stopped buying newspapers and milk. The others are placing the milk packet in soap water for a few minutes before washing it off and using it. These small measures go a long way in staying safe. Out-of-the-box thinking is the need of the hour.