Department of Health launches Covid-19 contact tracing app

THE Health Department has launched a new mobile application – COVID Alert SA – to strengthen South Africa’s digital contact tracing efforts.

To date, the department has deployed teams to conduct manual contact tracing in every district. Subsequently, the WhatsApp-based COVIDConnect service was launched, which allows index cases to anonymously notify their contacts as prompted by the system.

Launched on Wednesday morning, the COVID Alert SA app will complement and strengthen the existing methods as a powerful tool to enable the instant notification of contacts following a positive test.

COVID Alert SA is built on the exposure notification Application Programming Interface (API), developed by Apple and Google to enable contact tracing through mobile phones.

How to use the COVID Alert SA App #COVIDAlertAppLaunch pic.twitter.com/RJXjQ4tpfQ

— Zweli Mkhize (@DrZweliMkhize) September 2, 2020

The app is fully privacy-preserving, in line with the requirements of the API, and does not collect any personally identifiable information or trace a user’s location. 

Using Bluetooth, the COVID Alert SA app emits a randomly generated code that is picked by other users when two phones come into proximity of one another. This unique identifier changes frequently and cannot be linked to the identity of any user. Over time, each user builds an “encounter history” of those they have been in contact with. When a user tests positive, they are requested to report their diagnosis anonymously in the COVID Alert SA app.

When the user does so, all other users with whom they have been in contact for the past 14 days will immediately be notified of their exposure and prompted through the care pathway. At no point in this process is the identity of any user revealed. 

Bluetooth-enabled contact tracing apps allow a greater number of contacts to be traced more rapidly, including strangers whom an index case may not be able to recall or identify. The app is zero rated to facilitate optimal citizen uptake.  

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