ENDCoV app tells you if you need testing, features crowdsourced contact tracing

Kyle Chua

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ENDCoV app tells you if you need testing, features crowdsourced contact tracing
The app asks you to take a survey to assess your risk and exposure to the virus, and aims to build a big enough user base for effective crowdsourced contact tracing

MANILA, Philippines – Students from the Master of Science in Innovation and Business at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) hope to ease COVID-19 fears with their new mobile app, which tells you if you need to be tested or not. 

Called ENDCoV – a play on words of nCOV, short for 2019 novel coronavirus  – the app asks you to answer a survey that identifies your health condition and possible risk and exposure to the virus. 

The results of this survey are then processed using a triage algorithm, which is approved by the Department of Health (DOH) and consistent with the parameters of the World Health Organization (WHO). 

As the app’s userbase grows, it can help in contact tracing for the virus by crowdsourcing data from its users, creating a directory of people and places that a prospective patient may have come in contact with. 

So, for instance, if the app’s algorithm detects that you were in close contact with a COVID-19-positive patient in the last two weeks, it will notify you to take the survey to determine whether you should self-quarantine at home or seek testing. 

Data collected from the app’s users will be kept confidential while those it detects to be positive for the virus will remain anonymous, complying with Mandatory Disclosure of Notifiable Diseases Act (R.A. 113322) and the Data Privacy Act (R.A. 10173), as well as the policies issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force and the Office of the President.

The students said that their goal in developing the app is to help the DOH and hospitals nationwide maximize their resources by enabling them to prioritize patients in need of testing or immediate care. 

They also want to help make people feel less anxious about the current pandemic by providing them a free and easy way to assess their own risk status to the virus. 

“In the past couple of weeks, our team observed that it is important for people to access accurate and up-to-date information on their personal health, for them to feel more secure amid the pandemic,” said ENDCoV co-founder Charles de Belen. “They just want to know if they’re okay, if they’re safe.”

The students are now looking to add more functions to the app, such as heat maps showing high-risk areas to avoid, access to online consultations with doctors, and a printable e-copy of the survey results which can be sent directly to hospitals or the DOH. 

“During our classes, we’ve been studying innovation as a means to improve the lives of people. So we wanted to come up with a solution that would ease the burden of this crisis on Filipinos, moreso our tireless health workers,” De Belen added.

ENDCoV is now available for download on Google Play for free while the launch for the App Store will reportedly be announced soon. – Rappler.com

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