10 Apps Created To Fight The Coronavirus
From one end of the world to another
We are living in a world of technology. Many countries around the world have involved smartphones in the fight against coronavirus.
Apps are being used to track infected people, issue self-quarantine guidelines, provide the latest communication to the citizens, and ease healthcare staff burden.
Throughout the world, from Singapore to Poland, the apps have been downloaded by millions of people.
Apple and Google have reached a helping hand by creating APIs that enabled contact tracing apps to run on most recent iPhones and Android phones. Still, the tech giants are not publishing nor developing the apps themselves. Only already in the EU Member States, there are 22 mobile contact tracing apps and the development of new apps to fight the virus has not stopped.
Technology has come to the rescue in diagnosing those affected, identifying hotspots and getting real-time updates. While there is an issue of data privacy at stake, most app developers are now trying to safeguard user privacy. Have a look at some of the apps developed around the world to help fight Covid-19.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
∘ 1. COVID Symptom Tracker - England
∘ 2. HOIA - Estonia
∘ 3. SwissCovid - Switzerland
∘ 4. Corona-Warn-App - Germany
∘ 5. The Corona DataSpende - Germany
∘ 6. TraceTogether - Singapore
∘ 7. HaMagen - Israel
∘ 8. Aarogya Setu - India
∘ 9. CovidWatch - United States
∘ 10. Kwarantana Dommowa - Poland1. COVID Symptom Tracker
Developed by: Health science company ZOE and King’s College London
Downloaded: 4 616 286
Available: USA, UK and Sweden
This app was created as a collaboration by the Health science company ZOE and King’s College London to slow down the spread of Covid-19 and identify at-risk areas as soon as possible. Users have to take a one-minute test to self-report their symptoms daily.
Self-reporting symptoms will help researchers identify how fast the virus is spreading in a user’s area and understand the symptoms better and how they are linked to underlying health conditions. The app is available in the USA, UK and Sweden.
The app is GDPR compliant, and data is used only for healthcare research and not for commercial purposes.
2. HOIA
Developed by: Estonia
Downloads: 268 012
Available: Estonia
The app has been developed by voluntary cooperation between the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Health and Welfare Information Systems Center and 12 Estonian companies. The app translates to “Hold” in English.
The app's primary goal is to help the user quickly find out about possible close contact with a COVID-19 infected person, allowing them to take steps to protect their health and others' health.
The app registers Bluetooth signals from other nearby phones. If the phone is sufficiently close and long enough, an anonymous code referring to a close contact will be stored in their phone. The idea is that you get notified if you have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 or, the other way around, if you have had COVID-19, it is a way to inform your contacts about an exposure anonymously.
Estonia has chosen a “privacy-preserving path” to contact tracing. By using the decentralised privacy-preserving proximity tracing policy while creating the app.
A safety precaution app includes a mechanism to verify through the Estonian patient portal for you your diagnosis and then either confirms or denies the fact of your infection to the application.
This mechanism allows the app to confirm who is infected and who is not and then notify people who have contacted this person.
3. SwissCovid
Developed by: Switzerland
Downloads: 2 967 994
Available: Switzerland
Like other contact tracing apps, it works within Bluetooth range and has a similar working mechanism. When the app is installed, a random number of IDs (identification codes) are assigned to that app, which are exchanged when it comes into contact with mobile phones that have the app downloaded. These IDs remain stored on mobile phones for 14 days and are subsequently deleted automatically.
The usage of Covidcode confirms infection. Covidcodes are issued by the local authorities or doctors when a person has given a positive test answer.
4. Corona-Warn-App
Developed by: Germany
Downloads: 25,8 million
Available: Germany, available to download in other countries
Like the other contact tracing apps, Bluetooth technology is used to measure the distance and duration of encounters between people who have installed the app. The smartphones “remember” meetings if the criteria are met.
The devices then exchange temporary encrypted random IDs. If people using the app test positive for the coronavirus, they can inform other users voluntarily. Then the random IDs of the person diagnosed with COVID-19 are made available to all people using the Corona-Warn-App.
The app is currently available in the following six languages: German, English, Romanian, Bulgarian, Polish and Turkish
5. The Corona DataSpende
Developed by: Germany
Downloads: 537 512
Available: Germany
This smartwatch app monitors the spread of coronavirus by gathering vital signs from volunteers wearing smartwatches or fitness trackers — including pulse rate, body temperature and sleep patterns— to analyse whether they are symptomatic of the flu-like illness.
The results are then portrayed on an online interactive map that makes it possible for health authorities to take stock of the situation and better identify infection hotspots.
The data provided by users through the app will enable scientists to gain more detailed insights on how infections are spreading and whether containment measures are working.
The German authorities have been more cautious than some Asian countries in using digital technology to fight the coronavirus, restrained by Europe’s strict data privacy laws and mindful of public scepticism towards any surveillance reminiscent of the communist-era rule.
6. TraceTogether
Developed by: Singapore
Downloads: 3.8 million (app + token)
Available: Singapore
Singapore was among the first countries to introduce a contact tracing app nationally in March last year.
TraceTogether is a popular smartphone app that anyone can download with a Singapore mobile number and a Bluetooth-enabled smartphone.
The Singapore coronavirus app was made using the principle of a centralised application, where the state has data on who came into contact with whom, and the state decides who to inform and when.
It is a digital contact tracing tool that uses Bluetooth to track infected people. It works like other similar contact tracing apps, except that the other phones data is stored for 25 days.
Those who may not own or prefer not to use a mobile phone can use a physical TraceTogether Token. Over 1.75 million tokens have been distributed. The app has become a prototype for many other contact tracing apps in other parts of the world.
Lately, the app has been under fire after the revelation that the data could also be used “for a criminal investigation”, causing concerns over apps privacy. This comes after the assurance from the officials who had previously explicitly said that the government would not use the data for anything other than virus tracking.
As part of their programme against the Covid-19 virus, Singapore has also released SafeEntry, which is a national digital check-in system that logs the contact information and mobile numbers of individuals visiting hotspots, workplaces of permitted businesses, as well as selected public venues. In hopes to prevent and control the transmission of COVID-19 through contact tracing. Currently, SafeEntry is being implemented in selected places but is in stages of expanding to other venues.
Singapore has been one of the most successful countries in tackling the pandemic. Despite a significant outbreak among its foreign workers early on, local infection rates have for months been close to zero
7. HaMagen
Developed by: Israel
Downloads: 2.5 million +
Available: Israel
HaMagen translation from Hebrew is “The Shield”, launched by the Health Ministry of Israel, and the app uses contact tracing to contain the spread of the deadly contagion. The app allows users to know if they were close to anyone diagnosed with the virus in the past 15 days.
The app tracks the user movements using location technology, and the information received is compared with the ministry data on the whereabouts of those who have been diagnosed. If a particular user was in proximity to an infected person, the app redirects the person to the health ministry website to register for self-quarantine.
Right now, Israel has the fastest-in-the world vaccine campaign, having vaccinated half of the country`s population and is now showing other countries the first real-life look at how mass inoculation can bend the trajectory of the coronavirus pandemic.
8. Aarogya Setu
Developed by: India
Downloads: 100 000 000+
Available: India
Within just 13 days of its launch, more than 50 million users downloaded the contact tracing app. The app can be used by anybody who has an Indian mobile number. The app translates from Sanskrit: the bridge to liberation from the disease.
The app has been developed by the Indian Ministry of Electronics and IT to notify users if they have crossed paths with someone who has been diagnosed positive. Tracking is done via Bluetooth and a location sharing that tracks proximity with anyone infected.
The app also has a self-testing function. A user has to answer a few questions, and if the responses indicate symptoms of coronavirus symptoms, then the information is sent to the government servers. The app also provides self-quarantine instructions. Aarogya Setu is available in 11 languages.
The app's latest addition includes integration with the CO-WIN portal, an Indian source of the latest Covid vaccination news. It consists of a vaccination certificate and allows people to register for vaccination.
9. CovidWatch
Developed by: Stanford University
Downloads: 10 000+
Available: United States (Arizona)
Developed in collaboration with Stanford University, the app empowers people to protect themselves and their communities without the need of surrendering their privacy.
This contact tracker app uses Bluetooth signals to detect users when they are in proximity to each other. It would alert them anonymously if they were in contact with someone who has tested positive.
A distinguishing feature of the app is that any third party, including the government, won’t track who was exposed by whom. It has been among the first apps to release an open-source protocol for privacy-preserving, decentralised Bluetooth contact tracing.
10. Kwarantana Dommowa
Developed by: Poland
Downloads: 1 000 000+
Available: Poland
Poland has been one of the first Western countries to develop a smartphone app that collects personal information, including people’s location. It is mandatory for people in Poland who are self-quarantining.
The app allows self-verification by people uploading their selfies when asked by the officials to pinpoint their exact location at the quarantine area can be identified. It has become mandatory for anyone who has developed coronavirus symptoms. The app translates to “Home Quarantine” in English.
*download amount as of 03.03.2021
