Swiss track phone data to check if COVID-19 measures are working

Switzerland asked provider Swisscom for user mobile phone data to see whether their COVID-19 restrictions are working. /AP

The Swiss government has rejected claims it's using mobile phone data for surveillance during the COVID-19 crisis.

The government asked major telecommunications provider Swisscom for phone users' data to see whether current movement restriction methods are working.

The data were up to 24 hours old and provided a retrospective picture of people's movements during that time.

On Friday, the Swiss government put in place new, firmer COVID-19 restrictions. Calling for people to stay at home and banning groups of more than five people. However, so far, it has not imposed more extreme measures such as a curfew.

Daniel Koch, head of infectious diseases at the Swiss federal health agency, explained the decision: "We wanted to know if these measures were influencing people's mobility."

Many people in Switzerland have been concerned that the government is intruding into their private lives, but Koch rejected claims.

"It had nothing to do with current data or surveillance, it was really about seeing if there were patterns in people's movements and was only focused on public spaces," he said.

Switzerland has so far had 11,000 cases of COVID-19 and 150 deaths. It has tested more than 75,000 people, one of the highest rates of testing in the world.