SINGAPORE – Authorities in Singapore launched a contact-tracing app to be used on smartphones to identify those exposed to the coronavirus in order to curb the spread of the virus.
Governments worldwide have been looking at technology to battle the coronavirus pandemic.
The smartphone app TraceTogether works by exchanging short-distance Bluetooth signals between participating users’ phone within a 2-metre distance.
Every phone with the app will record the encounters. the TraceTogether app was developed by Singapore’s Government Technology Agency (GovTech) and the health ministry.
The logs have to be sent to the users when the health ministry requests for it, at other times, the ministry will not have any knowledge of the data.
The country’s fastidious approach in tackling the coronavirus has been on the receiving end of praise.
Suspect carriers of the virus have been tracked by police investigators and security cameras.
All of the data on user smartphones will be encrypted and TraceTogether will not access information like user locations. The developers of the app have strived to keep the privacy of the user from one another.
Singapore has strict infectious disease rules. A month ago, a Chinese couple had been charged for providing false information to authorities trying to trave their contact on their movements.
Even though downloading the app is not compulsory, the Singapore government is encouraging people to do so.
The functionality of the TraceTogether app will be suspended after the epidemic subsides according to its App Store description.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field.