COVID-19 tracing app Bluezone hits 15.7 million users

Some 15.7 million smartphone users had downloaded Bluezone, a locally-developed contact-tracing app to identify and alert people who have interacted with COVID-19 patients, as of 11am on August 11, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC).
COVID-19 tracing app Bluezone hits 15.7 million users ảnh 1Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) - Some 15.7 millionsmartphone users had downloaded Bluezone, a locally-developed contact-tracingapp to identify and alert people who have interacted with COVID-19 patients, asof 11am on August 11, according to the Ministry of Information andCommunications (MIC).

The number was 15.5 million higher than thaton July 25, when Vietnam confirmed its first case of community transmissionafter 99 days, for an average of over a million downloads a day.

The central city of Da Nang saw thehighest rate of smartphone users downloading the app, at 34.13 percent. It wasfollowed by the capital city of Hanoi with 23.83 percent; the northern provinceof Quang Ninh, 22.61 percent; Ho Chi Minh City, 22.05 percent; and the northernprovince of Bac Ninh,17.84 percent.

As of August 6, thanks to the app, thehealth sector had verified 21 cases of F1 persons (who had close contact withCOVID-19 patients, or F0), and F2 persons (who had been in close contact withF1).

Minister of Information and CommunicationsNguyen Manh Hung has urged localities to step up communications work to have atleast 30-40 percent of the population using the app.

While chairing an online meeting earlierthis month, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc stressed that each citizen is asoldier and each house, hamlet, and residential area is a fortress in the fightagainst the pandemic.

He therefore recommended that everyone installthe Bluezone app to facilitate the rapid tracing of infections.

Developed by tech firmBkav, the app uses Bluetooth Low Energy, a wireless personal area networktechnology, to link with smartphones within a two-meter distance.

If a user is positive for SARS-CoV-2 (known asperson F0), health authorities can identify those who had close contact with F1,and the system will alert them about the risk of infection.

They will be also provided with instructionson contacting health authorities for assistance.

The app is completely confidential, anonymous,and transparent, as it only stores data on users’ phones and does not transferinformation or locations to the system.

The development of Bluezone was overseenby MIC and the Ministry of Health (MoH). It was launched on April 18.

Other apps have also proven effective inCOVID-19 prevention and control.

As of August 11, nearly 874,500 medicaldeclarations had been made via “tokhaiyte.vn” and the Vietnam HealthDeclaration rolled out by the Viettel Military Industry and Telecoms Group(Viettel).

Another 17.8 million health declarationswere made via NCOVI, another app being used in the fight against the disease.

MIC and MoH have suggested that allVietnamese people use NCOVI to report their health status and obtain up-to-dateinformation./.
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