– ‘Tech’ CEO says data usage protocols should be crafted

By Vishani Ragobeer

THE Ministry of Health is currently reviewing four mobile application (app) options that would assist with tracking COVID-19 patients and persons entering Guyana, according to Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony.

In a recent interview with the Guyana Chronicle, Minister Anthony related that the ministry was examining ways in which it could improve on tracking persons who ought to be isolating and following protocols implemented to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.

“One of the things we are examining on how we can improve that service is that we want to require that everybody coming into the airport actually downloads an app on their phone so that we can monitor,” the Health Minister said.

Such an app could potentially use geofencing technology; this would create a virtual geographic boundary around a person- through their mobile device, such as a phone- enabling the software to trigger a response when a mobile device enters or leaves a particular area.

Guyana recorded its first coronavirus case on March 11. Days after, Guyana’s airports were closed. Subsequently, few repatriation flights were organised for Guyanese stranded abroad; Guyanese were allowed to return once they had a negative result on their Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test. Once in Guyana, the repatriated citizens were mandated to self-isolate for either seven or 14 days.

During that period of self-isolation, health authorities were expected to call the repatriated individuals daily to assess whether these persons were experiencing symptoms of the coronavirus. That, however, was not executed entirely as planned due to a myriad of constraints and all repatriated individuals were not monitored daily.

Dr. Anthony said that he is aware of the shortcomings of that system, and it is for this reason that the app system is being mulled with much alacrity. Additionally, the app would help to monitor asymptomatic COVID-19 patients who are not in institutional isolation.

“It’s very costly to acquire that app but it is something that we have been examining because we want to improve compliance,” Dr. Anthony explained, adding that the health authorities were looking into four different options to see which is the ‘best-fit’ for Guyana. Canadian High Commissioner, Lilian Chatterjee, and Dr. Anthony had discussions about the potential development of the app already.

DATA PRIVACY CONCERNS
Aside from resource constraints (funds) in acquiring the application, Dr. Anthony related that there are data privacy considerations. Since COVID-19 tracking apps may require access to one’s personal information, including their location, Chief Executive Officer of local tech company BrainStreet Group, Lance Hinds emphasised that some protocols must be crafted to ensure the data is protected.

“One of the things with COVID-19 and these emergency situations is that you want to collect as much data as possible to do the tracking that you want to do. While that is laudable, we need to begin to think about implementing data protection legislation just because you need to have conditions and protocols under which you share information,” Hinds explained, in a recent interview.

According to him, such an app is “a good idea” and “necessary” but even so, data privacy must be ensured. As such, he related that it must be clear what information will be collected by the app and what will be done with that information.

Countries across the globe have employed similar tracking measures as they contend with the pandemic. Singapore’s “Trace Together” tracking software uses Bluetooth technology, and several data privacy guidelines have been formulated. Additionally, there is a hardware option- a “tracking token” which is more popular among elderly folks without smartphones. Singapore was the first government to introduce a contact tracing app nationally in March.

Minister Anthony said that the decision on which of the four options will be used has not been made yet, but once that decision is made, it can be quickly deployed.