Travellers entering Singapore must wear electronic monitoring device from Aug 11

Dhaka: All travellers entering Singapore from August 11 will have to wear an electronic monitoring device so that the government can ensure the person is complying with the coronavirus quarantine rules as directed by the city/state.

The move follows the country's efforts to ensure the safety of the country as it gradually reopens borders.

These electronic wristbands will be provided to inbound travellers, which includes citizens and residents, from some countries. The travellers will be home quarantined rather than going to a state-appointed centre.

Visitors will have to activate the device after securing the same on their wrists. The device will use GPS and Bluetooth signals to track their location. So after reaching their home, people will get notifications on their electronic wristband and they will have to acknowledge.

All the inbound travellers, aged over 12 years, will have to wear this device that they will have to pick up after clearing immigration.

Authorities will immediately receive alerts if a person in quarantine, wearing a monitor, attempts to leave their house. Even if they try to tamper with their device, a notification will be sent to the authorities.

The government also cleared the air on if the device would store any personal information about the person. The Singapore government said that data transmitted would be encrypted.

However, Singapore is not the first country to do so as the same measure has been taken by South Korea and Hong Kong to track peoples’ movements during quarantine.

Until now, Singapore has reported 725 imported cases of the Coronavirus, which has taken the overall confirmed COVID-19 positive cases to 54,254 since the pandemic started.