KUALA LUMPUR: The geofencing application data introduced by the Greater Klang Valley Special Task Force (GKV STF) to monitor the movements of Covid-19 Category One and Category Two patients undergoing home quarantine will only be shared with the authorities.

       GKV STF joint commander Brig-Jen Dr Mohd Arshil Moideen said Covid-19 patients’ personal data was given to the state and district disaster management committees for the purpose of monitoring.

       He said the personal data would not be shared with any third party because the application was developed by the Defence Geospatial Division of the Malaysian Armed Forces.

       “In terms of data protection, it will depend on the decision of MKN (National Security Council) meeting. We will table two choices to MKN by obtaining the permission of the patient first.

       “We will send the Covid-19 patients to a quarantine centre if they refuse to use the application.

       “The second choice is for MKN to make it compulsory for them to use the application if they refuse to do so,” he said here yesterday.

       Brig-Jen Dr Mohd Arshil said MKN would make it mandatory for all quarters to use the application only during a disaster and the data would not be shared with other parties and currently, the decision on making the application mandatory for Covid-19 Category One and Category Two cases was awaiting MKN’s approval.

       “The geofencing application is still at the pioneering stage for a week before its usage is enforced by MKN and we are still testing it internally,” he said.

       Commenting further, Brig-Jen Dr Mohd Arshil said it would be made mandatory for those positive for Covid-19 undergoing home quarantine to download the application to their mobile phones.

       “This means the movement of those who are quarantined at home will be monitored through the application and police will take action if a patient is found to have gone out of his house or exceeded the radius set.

       “The application is very sensitive to movements of between two and three metres and it can detect if the patient deletes the application or shuts off the GPS or mobile phone as it would be found inactive with no movements at all,” he said.

       Brig-Jen Dr Mohd Arshil said the police would be sent randomly as targeted enforcement to monitor the condition of the Covid-19 patients at the address registered by the patient himself.

       He said it was impossible to monitor thousands of Covid-19 patients undergoing home quarantine and the application was thought to be the best solution.

       “For example, how are the police going to inspect 70,000 houses in any one area or district?

       “Logically, we can only monitor within a specified high-risk housing area when carrying out random monitoring,” he said, adding that the rate of non-compliance with the SOP among Malaysians was very high.

       Brig-Jen Dr Mohd Arshil said the geofencing application had not been named and it was different from the MySejahtera application because it had a different function and aim. — Bernama