Prognosis
Singapore App Halves Contact-Tracing Time, Top Engineer Says
- City-state has brought virus under control with curbs, checks
- TraceTogether uses Bluetooth on mobiles and portable tokens
The TraceTogether contact-tracing app.
Photographer: Catherine Lai/AFPThis article is for subscribers only.
A contact-tracing app in Singapore that’s a key part of the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has helped to reduce the time taken to isolate contacts of a patient from four days to less than two, according to an engineer heading the project.
The TraceTogether program, which includes a mobile app and token, now covers 3.4 million users, about 60% of Singapore’s population, according to Jason Bay, the senior director who leads the project team at the Government Technology Agency.