A new poll has revealed a majority of people in Britain would support the government using mobile location data to tackle coronavirus.
The UK Government has proposed an app which would allow the public to see if they had been in the vicinity of someone with a confirmed coronavirus infection.
The contact-tracing app would allow the government to better trace the spread of Covid-19, and could anonymously alert users if they had been near someone who was infected.
This alert could then prompt users of the need to self-isolate for seven days to help curb the spread.
In a poll by Ipsos MORI, 65% said they would support such a move despite some privacy concerns.
28% told the polling company they would strongly support it, with only 16% completely opposed.
Six in 10 said they would even support the government having access to mobile location data to ensure people were following social distancing rules.
Ipsos MORI said fewer were supportive of this if the tracking involved the use of punishments.
Fewer young people are as supportive of the government using mobile roaming data to help stop the spread of coronavirus compared to older age groups.
Ben Page, CEO of Ipsos MORI, said: “Despite concerns about privacy the public clearly support Chinese style tracking to deal with Cv19. Two out of three people favour government tracking people to alert them if they are close to a CV19 carrier, and around half are comfortable with fines and penalties if tracking shows people ignore lockdown rules”
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