Health Ministry official says phone tracking won’t be used to enforce lockdown

Health Ministry director of public health Sigal Sudetsky tells Channel 12 news that if a full lockdown is imposed, “we won’t use technological methods to check who is breaking it. The methods will only be used to check who a sick person was in physical contact with.”

The government on Tuesday gave the Shin Bet and police emergency powers to collect phone data to help stem the coronavirus outbreak.

Israelis eat take away meals in the trunk of their car of Jerusalem on March 17, 2020.
(Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

According to the channel, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan made his comment about a total lockdown being inevitable on Tuesday and asked police to present a plan to carry out the measure.

Under a lockdown, Israelis will be forbidden to leave home unless they have special permission for work or to get supplies or medical attention, the channel says.

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