WHO planning to release its own app for checking COVID-19 symptoms, may even feature contact tracing

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is reportedly planning to launch an app to enable those in under-resourced countries to assess whether they may have the COVID-19 Coronavirus. According to a report by Reuters, WHO plans to launch the app sometime this month and is also considering a Bluetooth-based contact tracing features as well. 

The report quotes Bernardo Mariano, chief information officer for the WHO, as stating that the new app will ask people about their symptoms and offer guidance on whether they may have COVID-19. Further adding that information about how to get tested will be personalised according to the user’s country.

Reuter’s report also notes that the WHO will release a version of the app on app store globally, and governments will be able to use the apps underlying technology to release their own version after adding more features. It also adds that while some countries like India, Australia and the UK have released their own contact tracing apps,  WHO expects the app to draw interest in plenty of countries, especially those in South Ameria and Africa. Countries in these places may lack the technology and engineers to develop apps on their own. 

The report further adds that engineers and designs have been volunteering to develop the new app and will designing it open-source on GitHub. This will allow the code to be open to public input. Further, the engineers have also talked to Apple and Google about adopting the technology that both companies are working on. The new technology is said to rely on ‘virtual handshakes’ between phones that come within a few feet of each other for over five minutes. Phones will keep an anonymised log of such encounters, allows someone who later tests positive to anonymously send notifications to recent contacts about their possible exposure to the virus. 

Marinaro said that the WHO is not yet committing to such features in their app due to legal and privacy considerations. He also expressed concern that businesses may turn things around and use the system to gather personal data. Both Apple and Google have said that they will not allow any system using their technology to gather GPS location data and the system will stop once the pandemic ends.

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