Ministry of Justice: Mobile phones of quarantined people will be examined to find other possibly infected people

The head of the department at the Ministry of Justice, Gaybullo Primov, explained reasons for introducing the mandatory confiscation of phones from quarantined people on a briefing at the special headquarters of the Agency for Information and Mass Communications on April 11.

According to Gaybullo Primov, phones made of plastic and other means of communication may serve as transmitter of infections, and therefore, bringing them into the quarantine zone is against sanitary rules.

“Also, items that have been temporarily confiscated will only be examined to identify people who were in close contact with the quarantined person.

This is due to the fact that infected citizens often forget or hide what places they have been to and people who they interacted with after getting infected. The phones are expected to help identify this information,” said Gaybullo Primov.

He added that there is a similar practice in foreign countries. In addition, the limiting the access to the Internet also helps to protect the identity of quarantined individuals, because some quarantined citizens do not abide by the law on the protection of personal data.

In addition, a representative of the Justice Ministry stated that the temporary confiscation of mobile phones, audio and video recording equipment, credit cards and other items of quarantined people is allowed in accordance with the law approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.