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PH launches online COVID-19 tracking, emergency response system

10 Apr, 2020

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 10) — A website and mobile application was launched this week for a more real-time tracking of suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines.

Those with Internet access can create an account on "StaySafe.PH" to help the national and local government units keep track of the health status of the public.

During the online registration process, users will be asked if they are feeling any of the COVID-19 symptoms, such as fever, cough, fatigue, muscle pain, runny nose, sore throat, shortness of breath, and diarrhea. The user also has to record the medical status of the other members of the household.

After filling it up, the Staysafe.ph platform will generate a result indicating good health, mild symptoms, moderate, or severe depending on the number of symptoms he or she is experiencing.

The data will then be sent to a "heat map" in the platform’s admin dashboard which will then show the areas and the number of people exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms.

The government's National Task Force Against COVID-19 partnered with software solutions company MultiSys to create the online tracker.

The online platform was designed to help medical frontliners, local government units, private companies, as well as the national government, to monitor the health condition of residents and conduct more efficient contact tracing.

Medical frontliners will receive alerts from the system, allowing them to immediately respond to severe COVID-19 cases and provide direct online consultations to patients.

It will also allow private companies to identify employees who need help and provide them with assistance.

This move is seen to decongest hospitals that are reaching full capacity due to the surge in suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases.

MultiSys assured the privacy of the users, saying the company made sure to comply with the Data Privacy Act when it was developing the online platform.

"We are not asking for the birthdate because if you capture the birthdate, you are [violating] the data privacy, but we capture the age so we are not violating the data privacy," MultiSys Chief Executive Officer David Almirol Jr. said in a statement on Thursday.

It added the online tool was developed at no cost to the national government.

Philippines has recorded 4,076 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 203 deaths, and 124 recoveries.



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