Covid-19: Israel to use computer analysis to find likely coronavirus carriers

A man reads at a stand of the NSO Group Technologies in Berlin, Germany. To help it decide who to test, Israel is using military-level surveillance to tracks civilians’ movements — prompting complaints about invasion of privacy from rights groups. — Reuters

TEL AVIV: Israel's defence ministry plans to use software that analyses data gathered from mobile phones — produced, according to Israeli media, by the spyware firm NSO — to help locate likely carriers of the coronavirus in order to test them.

Defence Minister Naftali Bennett told reporters that the "coronameter" would need approval from the cabinet — likely to be given — as well as an assessment of privacy issues from the attorney general, who has the power to block it. But it could be operational within 48 hours of getting the go-ahead.