WHAT IS CONTACT TRACING?
Contact tracing aims to find and alert people who have come in close range with a person infected with the coronavirus.
In uniform with other countries across the world, this first week of September the South African national department of health has launched its own COVID-19 Alert app, which will aid in notifying people if they have been in contact with someone who has tested positive with COVID-19 by anonymously keeping track record of everyone else using the app over a two-week period.
According to our health experts, the app is part of critical aspects of fighting COVID-19 and its ability to detect people who have tested positive for the virus early, then to track and trace those who have been in close contact with and refer them for appropriate care and management i.e. immediate testing, isolation or quarantine.
This technology uses Bluetooth-enabled smartphones to quickly and automatically determine whether somebody has been in contact with an infected person.
It is free, safe and built to help combat/slow the spread of the virus and to help us protect our loved ones and others from the pandemic, and as an effort to stand up against COVID-19 and its effects on our society and our economy.
The app is available for Android devices on the Google Play Store and on the Apple App Store for iPhones.
