WHO Readies Coronavirus App for Checking Symptoms, Possibly Contact Tracing

WHO Readies Coronavirus App for Checking Symptoms, Possibly Contact Tracing

An official said the World Health Organization (WHO) plans to launch an app this month to allow people in at least countries to assess whether they may have a novel coronavirus, and a Bluetooth-based The contact is also considering the tracing facility, an official told Reuters on Friday. WHO Chief Information Officer Bernardo Mariano said the app would ask people about their symptoms and could provide guidance about COVID-19, a potentially fatal disease caused by coronaviruses. Other information, such as how the test is performed, will be personalized according to the user's country.

The WHO will release a version on the App Stores globally, but any government will be able to take the app's underlying technology, add features, and release its version on the App Stores, Mariano said in a phone interview.

India, Australia, and the United Kingdom have already released official virus apps using their technology, which have common features, including telling people whether to test based on their symptoms and enabling more efficient contact tracing Logs of people's movements for.

Many countries are accelerating the process of contact tracing, or finding, testing and isolating individuals crossing paths with an infectious person. It is considered important to open economies safely, and apps that automate parts of the process can accelerate efforts.

The WHO hopes its app will increase interest in South America and some other countries in Africa, where case numbers are increasing. They may lack technology and engineers to develop applications and struggle to provide testing and education.

"Price really is for countries that have nothing," Mariano said. "We will leave behind those who are not capable of (providing apps) who have delicate health systems."

Engineers and designers, some of whom previously worked at Alphabet's Google and Microsoft, have volunteered for weeks to develop a new app overseeing the process. They are designing it open-source on the hosting service GitHub, which means that the code is open for public input.

Several members of the team declined to comment.

Mariano said he intends to include additional tools beyond the symptom checker, including a self-help guide to mental health care.

The team is also considering what the WHO refers to proximity tracing.

Engineers have done preparatory work and have talked to smartphone operating system manufacturers Apple and Google to allow companies to adopt joint-release technology this month to make tracing easier.

This technique relies on virtual "handshakes" between phones coming within a few feet of each other for at least five minutes. Phones keep anonymous logs of encounters that allow a person to test positive later to send notifications to recent contacts about their potential risk of the virus.

But Mariano said the idea of ​​legal and confidentiality prevented the WHO from being committed to such a facility. He expressed concern about many businesses that roam proximity devices and later use any personal data to generate revenue.

"We want to make sure that we ring-fence all the risks around it," he said.

Apple and Google have stated that their system will not use any data for other purposes and will be halted when the epidemic ends.

WHO plans to issue guidance to countries as soon as next week, they should consider weighing their own proximity apps.

To reach people with limited Internet access, the WHO is working to deliver information via text messages. In March, it launched an account on Facebook's WhatsApp to provide users with information about coronavirus, and it partnered with the company's Free Basics program to provide users with some information without data charges.

The WHO plans to release an app next week to inform health workers globally about donating protective gear, washing hands, and treating the virus. The organization already has a common app, WHO Info, which features its website to a large extent.