Digital Contact Tracing to Slow Down Disease Transmission

Abstract

This Covid-19 pandemic has severely affected everyone around the world. During its infancy, no one thought that it would grow in this magnitude. Although there are a few countries that have now managed its spread, most of the countries are still struggling to contain it and flatten the curve. This is not the first time that a pandemic like this has happened and it definitely would not be the last. Aside from awareness of the disease and following strict self-quarantine, contact tracing is an important part of the strategy to minimize the risk of spreading the infection. The objective of this project is to improve the methods for contact tracing and quicker data analysis for better decision-making when it comes to containing the disease. An important aspect to consider as well is the quick dissemination of information from a reliable and trusted source. The output is a web application that allows establishments to track the public who visits their establishments while health facilities are responsible for updating the public’s status when it comes to having the disease. This then allows the administrators to have the information they need for contact tracing such as a possible disease carrier’s whereabouts and trace those who may have been exposed. The development of the project started with analysis of the current situation such as how contact tracing is done, who is trying to solve the problem and what are the alternatives available to solve this problem. A design was made based on the problems identified. During the development stage, each module was built and tested separately and as a whole. Automated testing was done for functionalities while usability was tested by asking a group of test users to try the application and answer some questions and rate their experience. Evaluation of feedback from test users show that the application is simple to use even for non-technical people and that features available for them are working properly. Future work for this project will be to automate notifications for users who gets exposed and to add GIS features for better data analysis.