Young Guyanese duo creates COVID-19 contact tracing app

…seeking assistance from Health Ministry to have it launched

Local software engineers, Nicholas Seetaram and Satesh Persaud have teamed up to create an app that can notify persons when they have come into contact with someone who has been tested positive for COVID-19. These two talented young men are now hoping to collaborate with the Health Ministry to have it launched.
During a recent interview with Guyana Times, the duo explained that the application aims to assist the Ministry with contact tracing for COVID-19. According to 23-year-old Seetaram and 21-year-old Persaud, they created the mobile app called “Beat COVID” using the exposure tracking software that was launched earlier this year by Apple and Google.

Seetaram said, “We have not launched it as yet. The Ministry of Health needs to give us approval because we are using a component from Google and Apple. So, for us to use the component that Google and Apple built earlier this year, which is the exposure notification component, the Health Ministry would have to request to use it because Google and Apple would not give local developers like us permission. Only the Ministry of Health would get that permission.”
They related that the idea to create such an app came about when they saw an advertisement from the Health Ministry stating that it wanted to outsource the COVID-19 contract tracing app. “And we decided that we can build this because we are local developers,” they added.
For it to work, persons need to have the app downloaded on their phones.
Once this is done, the exposure notification system will generate a random ID for each device. According to Google, to help ensure these random IDs can’t be used to identify a person or their location, they change every 10-20 minutes. According to Google, your phone and the phones in close proximity will work in the background to exchange these privacy-preserving random IDs via Bluetooth.
“You do not need to have the app open for this process to take place. Your phone periodically checks all the random IDs associated with positive COVID-19 cases against its own list. If there’s a match, you will receive a COVID-19 exposure notification, with further instructions from your public health authority on how to keep you and the people around you safe,” it explained.
In giving a scenario, Persaud explained, “Let’s say three persons are in a room and all three of them had a screening for COVID-19. What the app does is generates a unique number for each person. And when the three of us are near each other, the app will exchange the numbers among us. So that is how I would know I was near to you, but I do not know who you are. I just have a random number. Later if Nicholas [Seetaram] goes and tests positive, his random number will be sent to my phone and my phone will check to see if I was near to this random number. And it would then indicate that I was near this random number at some point in time.”
Seetaram shared: “Let’s say we are in an environment with a lot of people, and you have probably been exposed to the coronavirus. Therefore, the app can notify you and tell you that you have been exposed to the disease at such a date and time and you can trace back to where you might have been exposed.”
“Our app will be connecting to a server that we created and our server will be linked to the Ministry’s server. Let’s say you went to the Ministry and you tested positive. The Ministry would update your information on their end. Let’s say you provided them with your phone number, what happens now is that you get an SMS notification right away from the app stating that you have tested positive and if you would like to upload your random number.”
“The app would periodically check for new cases, new numbers and it would periodically download these new numbers. Then run a match to see if you were near to this person. It has to connect to the internet for that to happen,” the duo added.
Many countries around the world have been utilising similar applications in their fight against COVID-19. In this regard, Seetaram and Persaud believe that their creation will bring positive benefits to Guyana.
“Beat COVID” also boosts some secondary functions which include advising the user what they should do if they come into contact with COVID-19 positive persons. It features a COVID-19 self-assessment tool which allows people to determine if they might need COVID-19 testing. It also provides information on how to protect yourself and your family from the disease.
With the hope of having the app up and running soon, they have requested a meeting with health officials. They, are, however, still waiting on a response. Providing that the response is positive, Seetaram and Persaud said that they will take it from there.
In the meantime, they are working on adding the final touches to the application.
“Majority of the developed countries have this app. We believe our mobile app can strongly augment manual contact tracing and help return our country to normalcy. The app guarantees a high level of security and privacy for anyone using it and does not collect any personally identifiable information or the location of its users. We have already built the foundation on the part to trace COVID-19. Now it is just for the Health Ministry to give us the approval to start working alongside them,” the duo related.
Apart from “Beat COVID” which was built in under one month, the duo is currently working on another app that can track the location of persons in home isolation.
“If they leave their house, the Ministry would know. That is the next app we are working on. These persons would have to have the app on their phones. If they leave their house a notification will be sent to the Ministry.”
Once launched, both applications will be free and available across all mobile operating systems.