Dubai puts tech to test; backlash over Qatar app
DUBAI/DOHA: From smart police helmets to research labs, the novel coronavirus has given Dubai an opportunity to test its technological and scientific clout as it shapes its approach to the pandemic. A key part of the glitzy Gulf emirate’s fight is its COVID-19 Command and Control Centre, set up to coordinate the efforts of Dubai’s doctors, epidemiologists and other professionals.
It is hosted within the Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU) in Dubai’s Healthcare City, also home to state-of-the-art hospitals, labs and research centers. “For several years, Dubai has endeavored to put in place solid digital infrastructure, and this has contributed to the fight against the coronavirus”, said Amer Sharif, who heads the multidisciplinary center.
It was established at the start of the health crisis by Dubai Crown Prince and social media star Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum. In one room, young mask-wearing men and women sit at carefully separated desks crunching data on laptops and coordinating with workers on the ground. The initiative includes a scientific team whose role is “to stay abreast of the latest advances in research and scientific evidence, both in the country and elsewhere in the world”, team head Alawi Alsheikh-Ali told AFP.
The UAE has carried out more than 1.6 million coronavirus tests, and has officially declared over 28,700 infections, including 244 deaths. This high-tech approach, Sharif said, including “the complete digitization of the health system”, has prevented a greater spread of the virus and made the lockdown easier.
Tom Loney, associate professor of public health and epidemiology at MBRU, said the coronavirus was an opportunity for Dubai to put its capabilities to the test. “It’s the ability to react, to make quick decisions based on data and science” that sets Dubai apart, said Loney, who is also an adviser to authorities in the city-state. According to him decisions were made by order of Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid AlMaktoum, whose portrait is featured on the MBRU building.
Many tech options were already at Dubai’s fingertips when the pandemic struck, and the emirate was quick at putting its technology to a variety of uses during the virus crisis.
Police wear smart helmets that take the temperature of passers-by while laboratories make protective masks using 3D printers.
When a night-time curfew begins, Dubai residents – 90 percent of whom are expats – receive a reminder message on their mobile phone in Arabic, English or other languages. The UAE has regularly announced research advances into the COVID-19 illness, developing several apps to help manage the pandemic.
One of them, Alhosn, which the government has encouraged residents to download, helps track people who are infected with the virus or who may have come in close contact with confirmed cases. But the use of technology to fight the pandemic has raised concern across the world over government surveillance and privacy risks. Tech experts and the media have highlighted this issue in the UAE, where some foreign websites and applications are already blocked.
But Sharif pushed back against skepticism. “Dubai and the Emirates respect privacy, whether it is a question of patient records or smart applications”, he said. The emirate was creating its “own model” of responding to the health crisis, Sharif added, though authorities were also looking at countries such as South Korea, seen as a positive policy response to the crisis. “We must follow the developments... but also add to them,” he said.
Meanwhile, privacy concerns over Qatar’s coronavirus contact tracing app, a tool that is mandatory on pain of prison, have prompted a rare backlash and forced officials to offer reassurance and concessions. Like other governments around the world, Qatar has turned to mobile phones to trace people’s movements and track who they come into contact with, allowing officials to monitor coronavirus infections and alert people at risk of contagion.
The apps use Bluetooth radio signals to “ping” nearby devices, which can be contacted subsequently if a user they have been near develops symptoms or tests positive, but the resultant unprecedented access to users’ location data has prompted fears about state surveillance.
Qatar’s version goes considerably further – it forces Android users to permit access to their picture and video galleries, while also allowing the app to make unprompted calls. “I can’t understand why it needs all these permissions,” wrote Ala’a on a Facebook group popular with Doha’s large expat community – one of several such forums peppered with concerns over the app. Justin Martin, a journalism professor based in Qatar, warned authorities in a tweet not to “erode” trust by enforcing “an app with such alarming permissions”.
The government launched the “Ehteraz” app, meaning “precaution”, in April and on Friday it became mandatory for all citizens and legal residents to install it on their phones. Non-compliance is punishable by up to three years in jail – the same term as for failing to wear a mask in public – in a state battling one of the world’s highest per capita infection rates. More than 47,000 of Qatar’s 2.75 million people have tested positive for the respiratory disease – 1.7 percent of the population – and 28 people have died. Security forces manned checkpoints across Qatar on Sunday to ensure use of the app, local media reported, alongside checking for use of masks. Criticism of the government is rare in Qatar and laws prohibit disrespect towards officials.
However, officials have said that the law on the app will be enforced with “understanding”. The app’s simple interface displays colored bar-codes containing the user’s ID number – green for healthy, red for COVID-19 positive and yellow for quarantined cases. Grey indicates suspected cases or those who have come into contact with infected individuals.
Mohamed bin Hamad Al-Thani, a director at Qatar’s health ministry, said that data gathered is “completely confidential”. “There will be an update for the Ehteraz app to address the issues of concern and further improve its efficiency,” he added in an interview on state television on Thursday. A new version of the software was duly released for Apple and Android on Sunday, promising “minor bug fixes”, but without indicating that the invasive aspects had been removed.
A security flaw in the app exposed sensitive information of more than one million users, rights group Amnesty International warned Tuesday. The glitch, which was fixed on Friday after being flagged by Amnesty a day earlier, made users’ ID numbers, location and infection status vulnerable to hackers.
“Amnesty International’s Security Lab was able to access sensitive information, including people’s name, health status and the GPS coordinates of a user’s designated confinement location, as the central server did not have security measures in place to protect this data,” the rights group said in a statement.
“The Ehteraz app’s user privacy and platform security are of the utmost importance,” Qatar’s health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. “A comprehensive update of the app was rolled out on Sunday May 24 with expanded security and privacy features for all users.”
“There are two key concerns... with the app,” said Human Rights Watch researcher Hiba Zayadin. It “is highly invasive, with a range of permissions allowing the government access to things that are not needed for the purpose of contact tracing, permissions that are unnecessary and present a concerning invasion of privacy.” But also “many migrant workers in the country don’t have compatible phones that would allow them to download the app and comply”.
Online reviews have also complained that the app drains battery power and cannot be installed on older iPhone handsets. Some have looked for ways around the policy. “People are spending money and waiting in queues just to get burner phones to protect their privacy,” wrote expat engineer Janko on one forum, referring to cheap handsets that could subsequently be disposed of.
There have been reports of a few users being wrongly classified as “quarantined” or “suspected cases”. “There’s no need for photo access and other things. But it could be a good tool. It is a good way to prioritize whom to test,” technology lawyer Rahul Matthan told AFP. But “to work, they need a large number of people to use it. If people are dissuaded because of the app’s overreach, then that would be a worry.”