Trudeau's open option to use smartphone data to track Canadians' compliance with pandemic

#CanadaPM; #JustinTrudeau; #TelecomData; #Canadians'ComplianceOfPandemicMeasures; 
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Ottawa, Mar 25 (Canadian-Media): The challenges of tracking where coronavirus would strike next and to see if the people are following the health protocols set by the public health officials around the world has prompted some governments such as Italy, Germany, Austria, China, Taiwan, South Korea and Israel to resort to use mobile data to keep track of infections as well as to predict where the virus is heading, media reports said.

Justin Trudeau. Image credit: Official website.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked during his daily media briefing on Mar 24,  if Canada would use telecom data to track if Canadians are complying with pandemic measures, Trudeau said that he has not ruled out this option, but at present he is not considering this option.

"I think we recognize that in an emergency situation we need to take certain steps that wouldn't be taken in non-emergency situations, but as far as I know that is not a situation we're looking at right now," he said.

"But as I've said, all options are on the table to do what is necessary to keep Canadians safe in these exceptional times."

Canada's Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam also said the option should not be ruled out in our efforts to curb the spread of COVID19 pandemic  and to keep the nation's hospitals from being overwhelmed.

"I think there's lots of innovative approaches and they should all be examined, obviously with due respect to privacy, ethics and all of those considerations," she said when asked about data collection.