By Karen Bong
KUCHING, May 29: Sarawak’s very own COVIDTrace and Qmunity apps are very important mobile technology platforms in helping the state manage the Covid-19 crisis and break the chain of infections.
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg emphasised that these contact tracing apps were crucial to monitor the movements of people around Sarawak in this critical period so to mitigate a second Covid-19 wave.
“The two apps are very important to manage the Covid-19 crisis as it is part of our efforts to connect the community and take care of people’s health in the state.
“Most importantly is for us to obtain the data so to manage these information especially in contacts tracing of Covid-19 infections,” he said at the launching of the Sarawak Contact Tracing Apps at Wisma Bapa Malaysia here today.
Sarawak government launched two contact tracing apps namely the COVIDTrace and Qmunity to help authorities track the movements of people for Covid-19 contact tracing in an effort to curb Covid-19.
COVIDTrace was developed by Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd (Sains) in collaboration with Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA) while Qmunity was developed as part of a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) project by Kuching South City Council (MBKS) in partnership with JT Utama Sdn Bhd, ARx Media Sdn Bhd and Huawei Cloud.
“One of the apps (Qmunity) is for the business community to keep the data to manage and trace (contacts) in case of any Covid-19 infection. Another one (COVIDTrace) is for the tracing of imported Covid-19 case,” he explained.
Abang Johari pointed out that people were still moving about in Sarawak and these apps would enable the authorities to trace individuals who have come into close contact with Covid-19 cases.
“A lot of people are going around in Sarawak but we don’t know if they are infected or not. So with their movement data kept and managed in these apps, authorities would be able to retrieve the data when required.
“When we know these people are infected, we can act immediately to cut of the chain of transmissions within the community. This is where the data will play its part through a central data collection to be kept and retrieved,” he added.
These apps, he continued will also be a solution for people who were insecure about giving their personal details away when visiting public places which has become part of the standard operating procedure (SOP) for businesses today.
“With these apps, personal information will be secured as people just need to scan the QR code and their data will be stored in the apps’ systems which are managed by the creators and authorities instead of giving their personal details to every places they visited,” he said.
Thus, Abang Johari was glad that Sarawak kicked start the digital transformation journey three years ago which has enabled the state and its people to leverage on digital technology to adapt to the Covid-19 crisis.
Sarawakians including the businesse community are encouraged to install the COVIDTrace and Qmunity apps which are available on both Android and iOS platform.
Deputy Chief Ministers Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas and Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing were among those present. -DayakDaily
