Federal government to use smartphone app to monitor people in home quarantine

Authorities plan to use smartphone apps to monitor people in home quarantine across Australia. Here’s how it will work.

Authorities are planning to use smartphone apps to monitor people in home quarantine across Australia.

Authorities plan to use smartphone apps to monitor people in home quarantine across Australia.

Ensuring that people stay at their designated address for the full quarantine period looms as a headache because they will be scattered across the country. It is a more complex situation compared to monitoring them inside a quarantine hotel setting.

One option would be to issue those in quarantine with ankle bracelets, like the ones used in home detention, however Australian governments are looking at a less intrusive way - using one or more smartphone apps to check that people are where they are supposed to be.

The combination of app location tracking and face recognition means those in quarantine can provide a verified image of themselves at their location whenever required. Law enforcement can ask them to verify their location at any time through the app.

South Australia already has used its Home Quarantine SA app in its home quarantine pilot which is a forerunner of a national program designed to enable more people to pass their 14 days at home, rather than being confined in hotel quarantine.

A spokesman for government minister Stuart Robert said the app being used in South Australia to trial home quarantine had been developed by the Commonwealth in conjunction with South Australia.

“States and territories — through their respective health orders — manage quarantine arrangements, however, the Commonwealth has offered to work with all states and territories to utilise the app should the trial be successful,” the spokesman said.

South Australia is using an app that lets health officials monitor people in home quarantine.

It is an indication that an app along the lines of Home Quarantine SA would be used in other states and territories with the Commonwealth heavily involved in development.

Some state premiers are also considering apps for home quarantine. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has said she is watching the SA experiment closely and is keen to explore home quarantine and the use of appropriate apps.

In NSW, The Australian understands that the NSW Government’s Department of Customer Service is working with the Department of Premier and Cabinet to investigate the development of a home quarantine app. It is understood agencies will look to take learnings from the pilot program in South Australian with an announcement expected within a week.

In South Australia, entering home quarantine involves downloading and installing the “Home Quarantine SA” app available through the Apple App and Google Play stores.

“The app provides the support and resources to enable eligible citizens to quarantine in their own home,” the app store write-up says.

The app also offers a way for health officials to check that people genuinely are at home through random live face check-ins. The app will give a user a set time to check in at their registered location in real time with face recognition.

South Australia Premier Stephen Marshall announced the trial last month. The results will be reported to National Cabinet which will consider the broader rollout.

Face recognition on phones is designed not to be fooled by a photo of a person placed in front of the camera lens; you would be taking a huge risk to try that.

The app includes a schedule of required symptom checks and COVID-19 tests to help people plan and manage their quarantine, and schedules COVID-19 test reminders and indications of tests taken.

There are also links to support resources and a guided end of the quarantine exit process.

It’s the app’s ability to use the phone’s location that makes it a useful tool for monitoring and a more savoury alternative to an ankle bracelet.

South Australia Premier Stephen Marshall announced the trial last month. The results will be reported to National Cabinet which will consider the broader rollout.

South Australia isn’t alone in adopting an app early.

Western Australia and Northern Territory use an app called “G2G Now” (Good to Go Now) for the purpose of quarantine and isolation compliance. It could be a hotel based or private quarantine.

You have five minutes to check-in through the app when you receive a request. If you fail to check in, you get a call to confirm your whereabouts.

“To prove you are at your registered location, each check-in or health update you perform will check your location against your registered quarantine address,” the app’s explainer says. “G2G Now is not a tracking app. Your location is only taken when performing these activities.”

Use of the app is voluntary, but if you don’t use it, surveillance during quarantine will be through calls and visits.