The Prime Minister Andrej Babiš rejected the Minister of Health, Jan Blatný’s, proposal to monitor the phones of those citizens who tested positive for COVID-19.
Jan Blatny proposed to the central office of the State Hygiene Service to be able to access the location data of the infected citizens from mobile operators. The data from up to three weeks ago should be provided and then reported to the Deputy Minister of Health. Apart from that, the minister also suggested being able to close universities and shops without the state of emergency in place. Currently, closing shops and many other restrictions including the anti-epidemic PES system are only possible under the state of emergency.
Yet, the proposal to monitor the phones attracted particularly much attention.
“There are things we will never support, such as restricting freedom or watching individuals,” Babiš stated, Idnes.cz reports.
The minister himself suggested that the proposal should be passed quickly but Babiš commented that no one in the government supports that.
