Plans to trial virus contact tracing app in place, says Sayed-Khaiyum
The app is developed in Singapore and is called ‘TraceTogether’
Plans are in place to pilot a COVID-19 contact tracing phone app from Singapore as early as next week. Attorney-General and Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, said they hoped to pilot the app locally to see the stability of the system before rolling it out nationwide.
The app was developed in Singapore and is called TraceTogether. It was launched in March to identify COVID-19 patients within two metres proximity using Bluetooth. Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said a team of IT specialists from the University of the South Pacific, Ministry of Communications and a team from New Zealand are currently working on the app.
“We had discussions again with the Singaporean
Foreign Minister a few weeks ago regarding the fact that they have made available the source code for the contact tracing app,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said. “The Singaporeans are using it. We understand the Australians have a variation of that and we thank the Singaporeans because they have made the source code available for free.”
He said the app would assist in building confidence not only among the Fijian population but also for potential visitors to Fiji.