App to monitor Pinoys with COVID-19 symptoms launched

The National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19 and a Manila-based developer have signed a Memorandum of Agreement to officially launch an online platform that could monitor Filipinos with COVID-19 symptoms.

Through StaySafe.ph, a website and mobile application developed by Multisys, users may report their COVID-19 symptoms during the online registration process, according to the NTF.

Once the symptoms have been reported, the platform will determine whether the user is a mild, moderate, or severe case depending on the number of symptoms being experienced.

According to the NTF, the data will be sent to a "heat map" in the platform's admin dashboard, which will reportedly display the number of people with COVID-19 symptoms in various areas.

National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said this may be used to monitor all communities amid the pandemic.

"As we have seen, it could do segregation of persons under investigation, it could also do a lot of things that have been enumerated," Esperon said in a statement.

The NTF said that the application was designed to help frontliners, government authorities, and private companies monitor the health condition of residents and conduct a more efficient contact tracing.

Despite this, Multisys founder David Almirol Jr. assured that the company complied with the Data Privacy Act.

"We are not asking for the birth date because if you capture the birth date, you are [violating] the data privacy, but we capture the age so we are not violating the data privacy," Almirol said.

The platform also reportedly features a dashboard containing updated information on the virus in the Philippines and the world.

According to the NTF, frontliners, local government units, and private companies will be given access to the admin dashboard for information monitoring.

Frontliners will also receive alerts from the system so they may immediately respond to severe cases and provide online consultation to patients, the NTF said.

According to Almirol, the company developed the StaySafe.ph for free.

"Willing po kaming makipagtulungan sa government. This is no longer a business. This is helping each other," he said.

Under the agreement, the NTF will provide the necessary information and operational support while Multisys will be responsible for the development and technical management of the platform's system. —Joahna Lei Casilao/LDF, GMA News