HYDERABAD: Cough, cold, sneeze... these may not have been considered out of the ordinary until the Coronovirus took the world by storm.
To ensure safety, smart-tech-enabled preventive healthcare company GOQii has launched a ‘Contact Tracking’ feature to help users self-track potential virus carriers to contain the spread of COVID19.
The ‘Contact Tracking’ feature, which monitors parameters such as blood pressure, heart rate, and body temperature, will help users track every movement, activity and also track those who have been in close contact with them and this app feature will help in social distancing as is recommended by the WHO.
“In case of a positive detection users can immediately backtrack every movement and individuals that one has come in contact with, in the last few days,” says Vishal Gondal, Founder & CEO, GOQii.
The idea is for symptomatic patients can be effectively managed. “According to WHO, people in close contact with someone who is infected are at a higher risk of becoming infected themselves, and of further infecting others.
Closely watching these contacts after exposure to an infected person will help the contacts to get rapid care, treatment and thus prevent further transmission of the virus. Thus ‘self-tracking’ is essential and should be followed to track one’s daily routine. We have updated the app to help users self-track, to the level of keeping a tab on every person one must have come in contact with, like cab sharing, food and delivery apps. One can record the name, contact number and photographs,” he says.
Currently in the beta stage and available on Android phones, the features will soon be available on ioS platforms.
“The features will help with contact tracing and remote quarantine management. We are hoping that we could play a major role in helping people take all precautions as well as help the government and health authorities, to be able to contain COVID19. We hope our combined efforts will rapidly lead to a better epidemiological understanding of COVID-19,” says Vishal pointing out that there is a strict privacy policy in place and the data logged by the user will remain private.
“The settings let the users decide whether they want to share their logs publicly, with just their friends or doctors or keep them visible only to themselves,” he says.