Hotel quarantine or bracelet: Israel is testing electronic tracking devices

The first participants in a pilot project to replace hotel quarantine with an electronic device were passengers on a flight from Frankfurt, which landed at Ben Gurion Airport on March 1. All of these people who tested negative for coronavirus received permission from the commission of the Ministry of Transport to return home.

They were offered a choice - either to spend a quarantine period in the hotel, or voluntarily agree to put on an electronic means of monitoring compliance with the isolation regime. Some preferred a hotel, but many nevertheless decided that it was better at home, left a deposit of 1,500 shekels, after which electronic "handcuffs" were snapped on their hand.

With such a bracelet, you can take a shower and do household chores. You cannot leave the house, as the bracelet fixes geolocation.

It is expected that at the first stage, about 100 people a day will receive such a bracelet. They will be put on directly at the airport, but how to take them off has not yet been reported.

The project is led by Israeli Deputy Minister of Health Yoav Kish (Likud).

“Those who choose electronic means of tracking instead of quarantine at the hotel will be able to immediately go home. The bracelets will be handed out at the airport. Everything will be entirely on a voluntary basis, and the project itself is intended to become a tool for the resumption of air traffic. The goal of the program is to facilitate the process for returning Israelis”, - the minister said.