Armenia approves cell phone tracking to stop coronavirus spread

PanARMENIAN.Net - The National Assembly on Tuesday, March 31 evening approved a government bill to track mobile location data for monitoring whether coronavirus response measures are being adhered to.

The parliament voted down the measure hours earlier but voted in favor this time around.

By using location data from cell phones, the government hopes to better track and respond to the Covid-19 epidemic across the country.

Operators will thus have to hand over phone location and usage data, including confidential medical information, to the authorities.

Several countries, like Israel, have already started enlisting location data from mobile phone networks.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country reached 532 on Tuesday, March 31. A total of 31 patients have recovered from the disease so far, while three have died.