Counting Cameras: How Moscow's Coronavirus Tracking System Works

As Russian President Vladimir Putin extended Russia’s COVID-19 lockdown until the end of the month, Moscow city officials on April 2 began to release a tracking app, Social Monitoring, that will allow them to determine whether coronavirus patients remain in self-isolation. Opposition and civil rights activists have denounced the technology as a violation of privacy rights. Patients who reject the app will be given a separate monitoring device. To date, Russia has reported 3,548 coronavirus cases and 30 deaths, the highest numbers in its region.