By John Clifford Lintao
IT took more than six months for the government to launch a coronavirus-contact tracing app that aims to lure back the public to business establishments and rescue the economy from recession.
The StaySafe app, says COVID-19 testing czar Vince Dizon is far more systematic than manually filling up contact tracing forms whenever they enter malls, banks, restaurants, trains and buses. It is also free for download and does not require mobile prepaid load to function.
With the app, users can just take a photo of the QR codes as it allows users to be easily notified by authorities if a person they had close contact with in these places tests positive for the novel coronavirus, he added.
StaySafe will “build public confidence to use these facilities and help rev up the economy,” he told ANC.
Only the government will have access to user data from the app developed in partnership with the private sector, including the MVP Group of Companies, Dizon said.
The Philippines tumbled into recession after its biggest quarterly contraction on record, data showed in August, as the economy reeled from coronavirus lockdowns that have wrecked businesses and thrown millions out of work.
Gross domestic product shrank 16.5 percent on-year in the second quarter, the Philippine Statistics Authority said, when the country endured one of the world’s longest stay-at-home orders to slow the spread of the virus that has devastated economies globally.
As of Wednesday, the Philippines has confirmed 226,440 cases of COVID-19, of which 64,207 were active.