Coronavirus Disease 2019 Tracking Apps- Why They Are Useful?

Over 2,190,317 novel coronavirus diseases globally.  The death rate of novel coronavirus cases has extended 147,027. Recovery from novel COVID19 is somewhere near 553, 672. These numbers are rapidly increasing in terms of coronavirus cases, deaths, and recovery from COVID-19. A maximum number of countries are focusing on novel coronavirus based mobile applications for tracking […]

Updated 13 February 2024

Omji Mehrotra
Omji Mehrotra

VP - Delivery at Appventurez

  • Over 2,190,317 novel coronavirus diseases globally. 
  • The death rate of novel coronavirus cases has extended 147,027.
  • Recovery from novel COVID19 is somewhere near 553, 672.
  • These numbers are rapidly increasing in terms of coronavirus cases, deaths, and recovery from COVID-19.
  • A maximum number of countries are focusing on novel coronavirus based mobile applications for tracking the nearby positive cases. 

The growing number of coronavirus cases are making it an urgency of the world for lockdown. The government along with doctors, paramedics, are equally trying their level best to bring out the vaccine of coronavirus disease 2019.

Till the time the vaccine for COVID-19 Pandemic is not available, the mobile app developers together with the team are developing applications that can track positive cases nearby. 

This coronavirus disease 2019 tracking mobile application is capable of making a smartphone a tracker. Through the tracking mechanism, the application can easily detect positive coronavirus cases nearby. And once after the detection, the app then sends a notification or an alert making a person move from that particular location. 

For making the application work in a real-time situation, a mobile app development company is using the best techniques to make the mechanism work. 

Keeping the same thought in mind and the importance of coronavirus disease tracking mobile applications, the tech giants, GOOGLE, and APPLE are collaborating on such apps. This COVID-19 mobile application can help in identifying the people who have crossed paths with a contagious patient and alerting them too. 

The process today is called “contact tracing”. It can help in controlling the spread of coronavirus cases to a certain extent. 

This pandemic situation has reached a level that the only solution to it is social distancing and tracking patients for quarantine too in real-time. This is the reason, not just mobile applications, the dashboard based on novel coronavirus is also available. Get a look at how novel coronavirus has impacted various sections of the app industry- 

  • Impact of coronavirus on dating apps
  • Impact on fitness apps due to COVID-19
  • Impact of COVID-19 on business apps
  • Impact of COVID-19 on video streaming apps
  • Impact on food chain industry amid COVID-19
  • Impact on eLearning apps amid Coronavirus
  • Impact of COVID-19 on mobile app economy 

Before moving to the core of how mobile applications can be a great help for tracking novel coronavirus, let us not skip the information about coronavirus dashboards too.

Top Coronavirus Disease 2019 Tracker Dashboards

Johns Hopkins University Dashboard

Johns Hopkins University COVID19 Dashboard _ AppVenturez Blog

The dashboard here brings out the data from the WHO along with the centers for coronavirus disease control in China, the US, and Europe. The data is basically driven to show all the confirmed and suspected coronavirus cases with details about recovered patients and the number of deaths. Through the dashboard, all the data is visualized via a real-time graphic information system which is powered by Esri.o

Microsoft Bing COVID-19 Dashboard

Bing COVID 19 Dashboard_Appventurez Blog

The dashboard here fetches the up to date coronavirus disease infection statistics-driven data through sources like WHO, CDC, and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).  By clicking through the countries, one can check out the latest novel coronavirus infection stats along with the other COVID-19 news coverage too. 

Centers For Disease Control Dashboard

CDC COVID 19 Dashboard _ AppVenturez Blog

Here the dashboard provides an overall view of the spread of coronavirus disease, especially in the US. along with the latest news, the dashboard also offers reliable health tips and guides too. 

World Health Organization Dashboard

WHO COVID 19 Dashboard _ Appventurez Blog

The next coronavirus disease dashboard is easy to read and carries a minimalist interface. Here the dashboard brings out the overall information of the total number of coronavirus disease outbreaks for each country. Apart from that, it also provides a complete timeline graph showcasing the reported coronavirus cases too. The countries can also be zooming in for more precise detail.

The New York Times Dashboard

The New York Times COVID19 Dashboard _ Appventurez Blog

The dashboard is filled with timely updates maps and graphs displaying the latest health data amid coronavirus diseases. More and in-depth information can also be explored by surfing it and scrolling through the dashboard.

When this was about the coronavirus dashboard delivering real-time information about COVID-19 cases, death, and more, let us come to the most promising part of the article.

Coronavirus Disease Tracking Apps- How A Smartphone Can Become Helpful?

The smartphone can keep track of locations via cell-tower signals, Wi-Fi signals along with the satellite-based global positioning system. Along with that, Bluetooth technology is also meant for connecting the nearby devices too. 

Read more- Benefits Of Geolocation Based Apps

Apart from that, the data is also capable of figuring out whether people are following the orders amid coronavirus disease. Other than that, smartphones can also be used for contact tracing while determining whether others are detected with the virus or not. 

Furthermore, the smartphone can become a device that can detect a person’s health through messaging, health histories, and more. In the same context, IoT in healthcare is also in huge demand for bringing out the right information. 

Keeping the same thought in mind, why the hospital needs app reasons, and users amid frequent coronavirus diseases are becoming the need. 

How Mobile Applications Can Help In Contact Tracing?

Once the coronavirus application is downloaded into the smartphone, it will ask for Bluetooth access too. After activating Bluetooth, the phone can log into other nearby phones too. 

If a person is being detected of coronavirus disease infection, the app will send in a notification related to self-isolation, or testing. 

The process is a digitized measure towards figuring out the coronavirus disease detected patient as compared to the traditional medium of a large staff. 

There are numerous examples of countries that have taken the initiative of developing coronavirus disease tracking applications. 

For example- an app called TraceTogther” a Singapore pioneered contact tracking. 

Another one is Israel for its powerful and robust government surveillance system for tracking the novel coronavirus disease cases. In the same list, India has also developed an app too. 

What Is The Take By Tech Giants- Google And Apple Amid Novel Coronavirus Disease.

The idea behind the tech giants’ Google and Apple proposal is a way to control the coronavirus disease outbreak. For that, contact tracing is one of the most viable ways. It helps in figuring out the infected person.

Set to launch soon, both Apple and Google have planned to create a medium for public health officials to tap into the features of iOS and Android using built-in applications. The app can be downloaded for free. The feature can be used by recognized public health officials only. 

Persons with positive signs of novel coronavirus disease can enter the results in the applications without the need to reveal the identity too. Also, a person with the downloaded application when in direct contact with the positive person will receive a notification too. Furthermore, the app works on the mechanism of Bluetooth instead of locational data. 

Mobile applications today are becoming the current need to detect positive coronavirus disease cases. 

Meanwhile, there are some questions that are making people dicey about whether to use the coronavirus disease tracking application or not. 

Let’s check on them too-
 
1.How Would A Bluetooth App Work For Tracing Coronavirus Disease?
Instead of using cellular monitoring for fetching the data, a Bluetooth enabled application can operate for detecting coronavirus disease through anonymous code. With the help of the application, if a person is tested positive for COVID-19, the code would be sent to the other users. This way, a person can be warned of the close proximity of the person tested positive. TraceTogether app, an initiative by Singapore’s government is an example of how a Bluetooth enabled app can detect coronavirus disease in 2019. 

2.Will Personal Data Be Collected Through The Coronavirus Disease 2019 Tracing App?
The Singapore version of the coronavirus disease contact tracing app collects mobile phone numbers to the health department. The numbers are not sent to other users.

Apart from that, there are laws that are meant for offering an assurance that mass surveillance will not be abused by the powers.

Furthermore, a Bluetooth app does operate without the need to operate from a centralized database. Hence, it allows a fully anonymous contact tracing which can be added as an additional “privacy by design” mechanism.

3.How Would A Bluetooth Contact Trace App Work In Actual?
Instead of using cellular monitoring, Bluetooth enables the app to be operated on a system of anonymous codes individually.
In case if a person is tested positive for COVID-19, these anonymous codes would be sent to other users who are in close proximity.
This is the reason, contact tracing application TraceTogther is vividly used by the Singapore government. Also, the National Health Service’s digital transformation arm NHSX in the UK is also planning to launch a similar Bluetooth based contact tracing application. 

Other than that, the contact tracing application can also introspect whether people are maintaining social distancing guidelines or not.

4.Is There Any Practical Problem With Contact Tracing Mobile Applications?
As per the statement by a professor of security engineering at Cambridge university Ross Anderson, there are a few listed problems with COVID-19 tracing apps. He states that false positives and the lack of effectiveness might arise if the app is limited to a small fraction of the population.

Other than that, researchers at Oxford University have suggested that the maximum number of smartphones in a city of 1 million people will be required to use a tracking system in order to be effective in novel coronavirus.

5. What Are The Restrictions Made By App Stores Amid Novel Coronavirus?
Understanding the sensitivity and concern about the spread of misleading novel coronavirus applications, Apple has set up limits on the types of applications that can be added to the store. However, the app is limited to only official or reputable organizations. On the other hand, Google and Amazon also implemented similar restrictions. 

The novel coronavirus cases are surging on a daily basis which made it mandatory to test people. Hence, it makes it a dire need to develop more number of contact tracing coronavirus applications. 

In short, if you are planning to develop an application for tracing coronavirus diseases, here are a few things you should be knowing of.

Things to know before the mobile app development process

  1. Thing to ask from a mobile app development agency
  2. How much does it cost to develop an app?
  3. How long does it take to develop an app?
  4. How much does it cost to design a mobile app?
  5. Top programming languages to choose for the app development process?
  6. Tech stack to use and many more,

Once done with it, there are factors that will cost you as per the need of the application. 

Developing a novel coronavirus application under a restricted timeline is the challenging task but our experts at Appventure by keeping the guidelines and app store restrictions in mind can deliver the robust result. Connect with us today.

Meanwhile, this pandemic situation is a global issue and those who are working by standing at the frontline deserve our salute. Understanding how responsibly they are working for us, we have made a video as a tribute for them. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBPPdBOd1dE&feature=emb_logo

Omji Mehrotra
Omji Mehrotra

VP - Delivery at Appventurez

Expert in the Communications and Enterprise Software Development domain, Omji Mehrotra co-founded Appventurez and took the role of VP of Delivery. He specializes in React Native mobile app development and has worked on end-to-end development platforms for various industry sectors.


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