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Ugandans develop an app for Covid-19 contacts tracing.


As Covid-19 pandemic wreaks havoc worldwide, many scientists are looking for possible solutions to flatten the curve and slow the spread of the infection.
Defining Technologies, a Ugandan firm, has developed a contact tracing app which alerts users and the Ministry of Health in case someone has been in contact with a Covid-19 positive person.
“The public users can see if they have been exposed, privately log your location and completely control your data whereas the champions of this fight (public health officials) are offered with reliable contact tracing, map infections with accuracy and anonymously verify cases,” Mr Toskin Gregory, a cyber security analyst at Define Technologies, said on Thursday.
Mr Gregory explained that the app uses smartphone technologies such as Global Positioning System (GPS) and Bluetooth to collect and share the data, which are agile and easy to use.
“The digital contact tracing app uses overlapped GPS and Bluetooth trails that allow an individual to check if they have crossed paths with someone who was later diagnosed for the virus. Through Covid Tracer, public health officials are equipped to redact location trails of diagnosed carriers and thus broadcast location information with privacy protection for both diagnosed patients and local businesses,” he said.
Using the Bluetooth capabilities in smartphones, the Covid-19 Tracing app keeps records of who a person meets. If a user or contact is confirmed to be positive, it will send notifications to everybody on that list, advising them to self-isolate.
The contact trace app, which was developed at breakneck speed over the past three months, with now 5,000 users, was donated to the Ministry of Health National Taskforce to help in fast tracking of contacts.

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