CITIZENS in Malaga ordered to quarantine after they test positive for COVID-19 face a surveillance check from police officers, it has been announced.

Those who do not self-isolate will be hit with fines of up to €60,000, with €3,001 being the minimum.

As of this week, Policia Local will be in charge of monitoring via telephone whether or not the quarantine decreed by the health authorities is being complied with.

Local officers will have a list of those infected, given by the health centres, in order to carry out this monitoring.

Policia Local will also remind those who have been infected of their obligation to remain isolated and the recommended health and safety protocols.

Monitoring of cases will be done on a random basis during the quarantine period.

Agents however, have expressed their doubt over the plan’s effectiveness.

“The problem will come with those who have given out mobile phones and not landline numbers. If they say they are at home we will have to believe it,” says the president of the local police union SIP-AN in Malaga, Manuel Troyano.

Additionally, Troyano says that the Policia Local ‘does not have the staff to cope with all the tasks assigned to them’.

The telephone control of patients is already being carried out in other municipalities of the province such as Marbella.

In the UK spot checks to enforce strict new COVID-19 self-isolation rules came into effect at the start of this week.

People ordered to quarantine in the UK after they test positive for the virus face a knock on the door from officers and a hefty €11,033 (£10,000) fine if not found at home.

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