Emergency response website tapped by gov’t for online contact tracing and reporting of COVID-19 cases

(Eagle News) – An emergency response website developed to allow online contact tracing and reporting of COVID-19 cases has been tapped by the government to aid in its fight against the disease.

An online statement by the Philippine Information System (PIA) said that StaySafe.ph, an online community-driven contract tracing, health condition reporting, and social distancing system developed by Multisys Technologies Corporation, is now being endorsed by the government through the National Task Force COVID-19 (NTFCOVID19).

 

A screenshot of StaySafe.ph, an emergency response website developed by a private company, is now being endorsed by the government, through the National Task Force COVID19, as a contact tracing and health reporting tool in the fight against COVID-19.

 

 

 

A memorandum of agreement was recently signed between the NTFCOVID19, Department of Health, Department of Interior and Local Government, and the Department of National Defense at Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City for the adoption of the online system.

“StaySafe.ph aims to help persons who intentionally or unintentionally had contacts with COVID19 patients to be given health assistance by the Health Care workers of the national and local governments”, AFP spokesperson Gen. Edgard Arevallo said in the statement.

Members of the public can register in StaySafe.ph and record the medical status of their household based on the listed symptoms of COVID-19. Based on their responses, they will then be classified into three – in good health, experiencing mild symptoms, or with severe conditions.

The information submitted by the user will then be added to the “heatmapping dashboard”, which will show the areas with increasing or decreasing rate of coronavirus cases.

The website administrator will reach out to those who reported severe symptoms, the statement explained.

Arevallo assured that StaySafe.ph complies with existing laws on the privacy of individuals, as “no personally identifiable information, like an individual’s location, movement, or contact is made available at any point”.

A mobile application version of StaySafe.ph is also currently in the works, which will soon be available for free in Android and iOS, the statement said.

(Eagle News Service)