For the past couple of weeks, Thailand has seen a stabilized, decreasing rate of coronavirus infections with the government now easing up several lockdown measures and starting to reopen the country.
However, fears over the resurgence of virus remains high.
Tracking and tracing app
By following countries like Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong and Australia, introducing a tracking and tracing application could come in handy and very useful in tackling the spread of the outbreak in the near future.
Developing this new monitoring system will allow authorities to store information and update citizens about the risk of infections and the location of new cases.
Singapore, for example, was very successful in utilizing this technology during the initial months of the outbreak. Singapore’s government, along with its public health department, came together to develop Track & Trace, a mobile application all residents and travelers to and from the country are mandated to download on their smartphones.
It works like this: the app will continuously store relevant information from the smartphone owner by tracking their whereabouts and those who they come in contact with. If that person enters the infectious phase, the app will then trace their data back over the past 14 days and alert people who have been in the areas the patient had visited or have come into close contact with the patient.
It turned out to be a huge success, as Singapore became one of Asia’s first nations to effectively control the spread of the outbreak. Of course, this has now changed after the resurgence of the virus, primarily in migrant worker dormitories, raising a whole new batch of questions for the city-state.
Thailand
Many in the private sector in other countries have started utilizing similar technology to help citizens with the pandemic.
In March, a team of software developers from Bangkok-based IT company 5Lab introduced covidtracker.5lab.co/, an online interactive map providing information on the spread of the coronavirus outbreak in Thailand.
The website features a comprehensive, interactive map with icons and colors to distinguish and update the number and location of cases, as well as confirming false news surrounding the outbreak.
It was an overnight success, attracting up to 30,000 visitors per minute.
With the easing of lockdown measures, reopening of businesses and services and concerns of a resurgence in cases, Thailand could benefit by utilizing an interactive, digital service to stabilize the rate of infections and inform its people.
Privacy concerns
Of course with such an intrusive application, there are privacy and liberty concerns. The government remains distrusted, especially when it has a track record of prosecuting its citizens for thought crime.
Could a mandatory app, downloaded to our smart devices, monitor more than just our locations?
Could a paranoid, self-sustaining government use it for more nefarious means?
If the government were to introduce such an application, an oversight committee of both coalition member and the opposition must be in place to ensure the public trust.
Otherwise any such notion may be dead on arrival.
