Analysis: Coronavirus controls increase surveillance ‘danger’

A man wearing a protective mask walks under surveillance cameras as the country is hit by a novel coronavirus outbreak, at the Pudong financial district in Shanghai, China. Some of the greatest fears about high tech social control are in China where people are required to use software on their smartphones that determines whether they should be quarantined or can be allowed into subways and public spaces. — Reuters

BANGKOK: The coronavirus outbreak has enabled authorities from China to Russia to increase surveillance and clamp down on free speech, with the risk that these measures will persist even after the situation eases, digital rights experts said.

Covid-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus which emerged from China late last year, has killed more than 3,000 people worldwide and made about 91,000 unwell.