Download Coronavirus Contact Tracking App Or Face Jail Time, Indian City Tells Citizens

Police officials in an Indian city are asking users to either download the government's controversial novel coronavirus (COVID-19) contact tracing app or face jail time, local daily The Indian Express reported Wednesday.

What Happened

The police in the city of Noida, near the Indian capital, said they will conduct random inspections at checkpoints to see if a person has the "Aarogya Setu" app on their phone, which translates to "Bridge of Health."

If the person doesn't have the app, they will ask them to install it right there, the police officials told the Express. If they don't have an internet connection, "we'll give them hotspot," the police said.

Failing to comply with this order could result in the person being booked under the country's criminal law, which could result in a jail time of six months or a fine of $13.15 (INR 1,000).

"We are doing this so that people take the order seriously and download it. But if they do not download it after repeated warnings, we will have to take action,"

Why It Matters

Security experts have contested that the coronavirus tracing app severely puts the privacy of the users at risk, as reported by TechCrunch.

The Indian government has made the use of the app mandatory for all federal employees, but others are only encouraged to download the app.

Some private players, including Zomato Inc., which recently acquired Uber Technologies Inc.'s UBER food delivery business in the country, have followed suit, making it mandatory for their employees or contractors to download the app.

India has imposed one of the world's longest and strictest lockdowns to combat the coronavirus pandemic starting March, but is starting to ease some of the restrictions.

There are 52,987 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country, including 1,785 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.