Technology, especially smartphones have been playing a crucial role throughout this pandemic – Covid – 19. Some apps can detect COVID-19, and many are using them to track infected people. These also issue self-quarantine guidelines, provide the latest communication to the citizens, and ease the burden on healthcare staff.
These apps have been downloaded by millions of people across the globe, including South Korea and Poland.
Apple and Google, the two Silicon Valley tech giants, have also come together for the development of an app that will assist healthcare organizations.
Some of the most popular smartphone apps to track the COVID-19 outbreak:
1. CovidWatch
The App was developed at Stanford University and safeguards people’s privacy. This App uses Bluetooth signals to detect users when they are in proximity to each other. It also alerts them anonymously if they were in contact with someone who has tested positive. Furthermore, it assures that no third party, including the government, can learn who was exposed by whom.
2. The Corona DataSpende
This German smartwatch app monitors the spread of coronavirus and does so by collecting vital signs – pulse rate, body temperature, sleep patterns – from volunteers wearing a smartwatch or a fitness tracker.
3. COVID Symptom Tracker
This App is designed by doctors and researchers at the King’s College London and St. Thomas hospitals, in partnership with a private healthcare company called Zoe Global. The App learns the symptoms of the virus for advanced research and also helps track how it spreads.
4. NHS smartphone app
The contact tracing app is currently under development by the NHS (National Health Service), which is the publicly funded national healthcare system of England. The App is designed at NHSX, the innovation unit of NHS, and would be rolled out anytime soon.
5. TraceTogether
TraceTogether is a popular smartphone app which you can download and with a Singapore mobile number and a Bluetooth-enabled smartphone. It is a contact tracing app that uses Bluetooth to track infected people and notify those who were near them during the past two weeks.
