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Israelis may be required to install coronavirus tracking phone app to enter malls

The Health Ministry director said the app would reveal who was at the mall or market, which route they took and who they were near.

A supermarket in Jerusalem on April 2, 2020. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90.
A supermarket in Jerusalem on April 2, 2020. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90.

Israelis may be required to download a mandatory coronavirus tracking phone app if they want to enter malls or markets.

The app would allow authorities to track locations where infected or suspected coronavirus carriers had visited, according to a report in Haaretz on Wednesday.

In a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, representatives of Israel’s National Security Council and market vendor associations, Health Ministry Director-General Moshe Bar Siman Tov said shoppers would be asked to scan a code before entering such a potentially busy place.

He explained that the app would reveal who was at the mall or market, and which route they took and who they were near. This could ensure greater accuracy for quarantining a specific person, instead of a large group of people, according to the report.

Other measures would include wearing a face mask, limiting the number of people in the market of mall, and taking temperatures at the entrances.

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