Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control (CDC) launched a Social Distancing App to prevent the coronavirus from spreading. The app hopes to make the contact tracing of COVID-19 easier. However, the public has been discussing if the Taiwan Social Distance App is really useful or not.
According to The China Post, Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC, 中央流行疫情指揮中心) urges the public to not deleting the “Taiwan Social Distance App”, claiming that the whereabouts of 183 confirmed COVID-19 patients have successfully been uploaded to the system.
This announcement came after many began questioning the usefulness of the app which has gathered little interest so far among the Taiwan public, with some speculating that too little information on confirmed patients has been uploaded so far.
The China Post mentions, CECC Deputy Commander Chen Tsung-Yen (陳宗彥) revealed that 183 infected COVID-19 patients have uploaded their information already and more are to be done so in the future.
He added that those who receive a message alerting them that they have been in close contact with a confirmed patient should not panic.
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由衛生福利部疾病管制署與行政院資安處、台灣人工智慧實驗室(Taiwan AI Labs)合作開發「臺灣社交距離App」,讓大眾對疫情有更準確的掌握。(圖/疾管署提供)
Chen explained that you should remain calm and pay attention to any abnormalities in your health condition in the following days.
If you experience any discomfort or start to develop symptoms, you need to seek medical help and alert health authorities of your recent activities.
Chen pointed out that the data of the 183 confirmed patients in Taiwan’s social distance APP have all been confirmed by the CECC.
The China Post adds, if people have close contact with the confirmed person, they will receive a red alert.
More articles: Social Distancing App helps with the coronavirus prevention
If you begin developing symptoms, Chen reminded the public to inform the doctor that you had received an APP warning and provide recent activities information such as contact history.
The China Post says, this will assist doctors in their diagnosis and notify others.
Since the APP will issue a warning every 4 hours, Chen said that if you still want to uninstall the app, you can call (02) 23959825 ext. 3044 between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. every day, and the duty personnel will assist in uninstalling the app in Chinese.