Contact tracing app StaySafe.ph to be rolled out in transport terminals

Contact tracing app StaySafe.ph will be rolled out in the coming weeks, testing czar and Bases Conversion and Development Authority President Vince Dizon said Saturday.

"Sa mga susunod na linggo gagamitin na ito sa transpo centers tulad ng MRT, LRT sa bus terminal para magamit na talaga at mapabilis ang contact tracing at talagang magagamit ito para mapabilis natin ang response napakaimportante po ng ating tracing," Dizon said during the Laging Handa public briefing on Saturday.

The announcement came amid the Department of Transportation's (DOTr's) plan to reduce physical distancing inside public mass transport vehicles on September 14, Monday.

The DOTr earlier said that from the one-meter distance it will be optimized to .75 meters beginning Monday, before it could be further reduced to 0.5 meters after two weeks, and to 0.3 meters after another two weeks.

“Napakaimportante po ng tracing, sabi nga ng ating Tracing Czar na si Mayor Benjie Magalong. At itong mga technology na ito ay malaki ang maitutulong,” Dizon said.

The StaySafe.ph app, developed by Multisys, is an application that could be automatically used for contact tracing and give warning to its users of possible coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection.

Once installed, the user will answer a health reporting system to determine if he or she has symptoms of the illness. Through the geolocation feature, an alert will automatically be issued when users with symptoms go near another user.

The application may also generate its own QR code, allowing users to scan the code instead of manually entering their names and contact numbers when entering establishments.

StaySafe.ph may be used for free by private companies and local government units.

The Inter-Agency Task Force and the National Task Force on COVID-19 are now looking to use the application for the whole country after it was launched in Manila over two months ago.

“Iyan po ay mina-manage ng ating Department of Information Communication Technology, iyong sistema. Pero iyong datos po ay napupunta sa gobyerno, sa ating Department of Health. Sila po ang controller ng mga datos kaya makakasiguro po tayo at binabantayan din po iyan ng ating National Privacy Commission,” Dizon said.

“Pero napakaimportante po talaga nito na magamit natin ang mga makabagong teknolohiya para talagang mapabilis natin ang ating response, tulad na rin ng ginagawa ng iba’t ibang bansa,” he said. — DVM, GMA News