Bengaluru: Now, sensor-based hand tags to monitor patients

BENGALURU: Revenue minister R Ashoka, who is in charge of Covid-19 operations in Bengaluru city, on Sunday said positive patients and those in quarantine will be handtagged with a sensor-based device in order to monitor them.
“To ensure strict quarantine and hospitalisation, we are planning to introduce hand tags. It will have a device with a sensor.If anybody tries to remove the tag, it’ll send us an alert in the form of a beep,” Ashoka said.
The move comes in the wake of rising number of home-quarantine violations and is expected to help the government track positive patients, if they move around indiscriminately.
Earlier, Ashoka said the state will now number beds across all hospitals so that it can set up a real-time monitoring system for exigencies.
Ashoka said the government will be monitoring availability of beds from the state war room.
On allegations of substandard food being served to patients at designated Covid hospitals, the minister said the state has given catering orders to five-star hotels like Taj West End and Atria. “We have, in fact, purchased a machine that can make one lakh chapatis in an hour. With this, we ensure adequate food for patients,” he said, adding fruit juice and other nutrients would be given those under treatment.
On rising coronavirus cases in Bengaluru, Ashoka said the government has asked experts to study the spike and submit a report.
Explaining the rationale behind the curfew timings, he said the government was worried about a lot of “partying” in Bengaluru beyond 8pm. “With these night parties, there was a scare that the virus could spread exponentially. Hence, the decision to impose the curfew between 8pm and 5am,” the minister said.