Yahoo News Singapore plans wearable device after problems with its contact tracing app
Singapore is drawing up plans to give all of its 5.7 million residents a wearable device to help monitor the spread of coronavirus following problems with its contact tracing app.
The Bluetooth device will identify people who had recently interacted with carriers of Covid-19. If successful, they will be distributed to the city state's entire population. The devices can be worn on lanyards around the neck or carried in bags.
The decision follows earlier problems with Singapore's contact tracing smartphone app which people have complained is prone to glitches. On Apple iPhones, the system doesn't work unless people keep the app open at all times.
Vivian Balakrishnan, the minister in charge of the country’s contact tracing scheme, reportedly said: “We are developing and will soon roll out a portable wearable device that will ... not depend on possession of a smartphone. If this portable device works, we may then distribute it to everyone in Singapore.”
Singapore’s app was launched in March and uses a mixture of centralised and decentralised contact tracing systems. It does not support a rival contract tracing system developed by Apple and Google earlier this year.
Experts have warned that the UK’s contact tracing app may encounter similar technical problems when it launches later this year. It was also independently developed without using Apple and Google’s system.
iPhones which do not use Apple and Google’s contact tracing system automatically reduce the strength of Bluetooth signals over time when the contact tracing app is not open and in use.
The Government in the UK is reportedly also considering providing cheap wearable devices to people as part of its contact tracing system, meaning that people without modern smartphones would be able to track who they come into contact with.
Singapore’s TraceTogether app has been downloaded 1.5 million times, the country’s government has said. That is too low a share of the city's population to provide an accurate picture of the spread of the virus, especially if many users are not actively using the app at all times.
The government has sought ways to integrate the app with Apple and Google’s system, Mr Balakrishnan told Reuters.
“We’ve had repeated discussions both at the technical and policy level with Apple, but we have not yet been able to find a satisfactory solution,” he said.
