By Karen Bong
KUCHING, July 22: Sarawakians have been urged to download the CovidTrace or Qmunity mobile apps to check into locations as the apps will gather and provide timely data for contact tracing and tracking as well as help to notify users who may be at elevated risk of exposure.
State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas emphasised that the apps have been effective and could be instrumental in contact tracing for potential Covid-19 infections.
“We have been briefed on how the apps work and we are very impressed with the outcome. So we are convinced that it can help with contact tracing which is a very critical process at this period.
“For example, based on the data on my mobile phone, I was informed to have come across 59 close contacts,” he told a press conference on Covid-19 yesterday.
The CovidTrace app facilitates digital contact tracing of persons who encountered someone suspected or confirmed to have Covid-19, while the Qmunity app assists local authorities to track the movement of people for contact tracing purposes.
Uggah also encouraged the public to use the Qmunity app to check themselves in when visiting various retail outlets, buildings and stores, rather than manually writing their information down using a provided pen.
“If not by scanning, we are required to write down our name and contact. When we do that, we are touching the pen which has been used by countless people and I have not seen anyone clean the pen before using it, so avoid that,” he advised.
Meanwhile, members of the public may now file complaints or make enquiries related to compliance with standard operating procedure (SOP) by WhatApps to 016-239111.
“All the complaints will be monitored by the Ministry for Local Government and Housing,” Uggah added. — DayakDaily
