After a recent software update, you might have noticed that both Apple and Google has added a new feature into its core OS that aims to help the battle against the Novel Coronavirus by automating contact tracing and providing automatic exposure notification to the mobile user if virus exposure has been detected.
The COVID-19 exposure API is a joint project between Apple and Google ever since the start of the Pandemic, on it’s own it doesn’t really do anything, but it’s designed to work with an accompanying app that uses the phone’s Bluetooth technology to exchange random IDs from the phones of other people you get in contact with. This new opt-in feature will then notify every user that might have been in contact with someone who has been infected by the virus.
In the Philippines, the approved mobile app that uses the COVID-19 Exposure API is StaySafe.ph, it’s now available in both IOS and Android devices.
However, the effectiveness of this new API relies highly on how many people are using the framework, the more people who install applications that uses the framework, the more accurate and real-time the feedback will be.
Imagine if Waze is for traffic, then the new Exposure Notification API if for the virus. So if you own either an Android or iPhone, please install the mobile app to take advantage of this new feature and help the fight against the Novel Coronavirus.
