The electronic monitoring of compulsory home quarantine is working well, there is also interest from abroad in the Hungarian-developed application, Minister of State for International Communication and Relations-head of the communications task force Zoltán Kovács, head of the duty centre of the Operational Group responsible for the containment of the coronavirus epidemic Tibor Lakatos and Máté Kiss-György, Managing Director of Asura Technologies Kft., the company that developed the application told journalists at a background discussion held on Wednesday.

Mr Kovács said behind the efforts of the Hungarian State, it is well worth presenting to the public the cooperation schemes which guarantee the most effective possible fulfilment of the containment duties of public administration and law enforcement agencies. He added that these include the development of the application which serves the electronic monitoring of compulsory home quarantine for the isolation of potential cases of infection.

Mr Lakatos recalled that at the time of the emergence of the epidemic in Hungary, the handling of Hungarian nationals often returning from countries with severe rates of infection was a major challenge for the government. He mentioned as an example that in Slovakia returning nationals were taken to quarantine locations designated by the state; by contrast, Hungary made it possible for the individuals concerned to spend isolation for 14 days in their own homes. This imposed a formidable task upon the police, they were required to organise monitoring, and in addition to also monitoring compliance with the rules relating to restrictions on movement, they were required to perform general policing responsibilities as well.

He pointed out that also at present more than 11,000 persons are in compulsory home quarantine and the number of active users of the application currently stands at 880. So far more than two thousand persons have downloaded the application; however, those who did not prove to be infected and in whose case the quarantine period has expired have been removed from the system. The Operational Group decided to accept the help offered by the Hungarian business in the form of the application enabling electronic monitoring in order to remove some of the excessive workload of police officers. He stressed that the database including the details of persons entering the country features sensitive, protected and special personal data; therefore, the system which supports the electronic monitoring of compulsory home quarantine is operated on the server base of Nemzeti Infokommunikációs Szolgáltató Zrt., the National Infocommunications Services Company. They also store here the data displayed on a map which served as the basis for the gradual lifting of restrictive measures. They connected these two systems together in order to facilitate decision-making.

Regarding electronic monitoring, he said they had carried out 17,499 remote checks and the police had only been required to carry out onsite checks in 435 instances. This electronic facility “saved” the police more than 10,000 onsite checks, he said, highlighting that a further advantage of the system is that the authorities are in this way able to respect the privacy of families more.

The Hungarian-developed application which can be downloaded onto mobile phones was created by the Budapest-based Asura Technologies established in 2017. The company develops new-generation video analytics systems based on artificial intelligence and number plate recognition software for transport safety, vehicle identification and general safety technology applications. Mr Kiss-György highlighted that the facial recognition system and the global positioning system used for the entry of vehicles at the border served as the basis for an idea for the monitoring of persons in a given location. They developed the application in just four and a half weeks; the main challenge was to also meet requirements of cyber protection and the expectations of the police, in addition to making it possible that the data gathered should be stored by an entity other than the developer.

He said they have partially achieved their goal, but it is important to appreciate that the individuals concerned undergo the same process as in the case of personal monitoring, except both the state and the persons under surveillance are spared the inconvenience of physical monitoring.

He also highlighted that they have received enquiries regarding the product from abroad; in Bulgaria their development is currently being tested, while there are ongoing negotiations with Egypt.

In answer to a question from the press about the application that can be used on a voluntary basis, Mr Lakatos said as a first step, the person entering the country is served a verbal decision on compulsory home quarantine, and next the district office is notified. If the person concerned agrees to electronic monitoring, they are required to register in the system. The police compare the details recorded upon entry into the country with the registered data, and if they match, the user verifies that they are in their home by responding to multiple remote surveillance requests sent at random times during the day. In answer to the question of the Hungarian news agency MTI, he said anyone can download the application, however, it only works if the registration details match the records of the authorities, and only while the restrictive measure is in effect.

Monitoring is based on facial recognition and global positioning, the individual concerned is required to respond within a fixed amount of time by sending a photo which is compared with the image in the person’s identification document and the positioning data. The system additionally offers the option of completing a health questionnaire about any changes in the individual’s state of health which can also be checked by a general practitioner and is made available to the Operational Group anonymously.

In answer to a question, Mr Kovács said it is to be hoped that they will also be able to use the application in other areas of state administration; he mentioned the administration of day-to-day affairs in public administration as an example.

Press Chief of the Ministry of Interior Attila Samu highlighted that at present there are persons in active compulsory home quarantine in 178 settlements around the country. It is an important element of the application that it enables decision-makers to have a better understanding of the situation nationwide, and it was a great help in that it dispensed with the need for moving around and regrouping police forces.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)