Hong Kong research team creates hi-tech app designed to assess exposure to coronavirus
- New smartphone app uses movements over past three days to work out coronavirus infection risk
- Scientists say the app will help people get the latest information as anti-coronavirus restrictions ease.
A new smartphone app created by a team of Hong Kong scientists will allow people to check their coronavirus infection risk with a hi-tech assessment based on their movements over the previous three days.
CovidInArea, designed by researchers at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), features a map that shows places with coronavirus cases over the previous 14 days and calculates an individual’s infection risk using big data and GPS.
“The government also has a website which shows a map of buildings with confirmed cases, but it is not very mobile friendly,” Professor Gary Chan Shueng-han of HKUST’s department of computer science and engineering said. “So we designed this application for people to read the map on their phones more easily.
“Since Hong Kong has relaxed its measures recently, citizens should pay more attention while commuting. If they can get more information about infections, it will raise their awareness when fighting the virus.
The app generates a radar chart when it is opened and GPS is turned on. The chart works out the risk of infection based on the distance between the user and places with identified cases, the time they may have spent in hotspots and the number of places with infections around the user.
