MANILA – The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday welcomed the creation of contact tracing apps by local software companies that could help control the increase of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) infections in the country.
"DOH appreciates the development of other contact tracing apps in support of the national response against Covid-19 provided that these undergo validation and regulation with the DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology) and NPC (National Privacy Commission) especially with their use and storage of patient data," the DOH said in a message to reporters.
The agency made the remark in response to questions on the reliability of such apps in aiding contact tracers with their contact tracing tasks.
Earlier, LabX Corporation signed a memorandum of agreement with local software company Spring Valley Tech Corporation to undertake the tracing capability and functionalities of Citizen’s Logistics and Early Assessment Report tool (C.L.E.A.R.).
C.L.E.A.R. is a software application that provides record-creation and contact-tracing functionalities for the monitoring of Covid-19 cases nationwide.
LabX is one of the Covid-19 testing laboratories in the country.
MYEG Philippines, Inc. has also developed a mobile application, MyEGuard, with proper contact tracing and health check diagnosis.
MYEG has been the partner of government agencies in the country such as the National Bureau of Investigation, Land Bank of the Philippines, and some local government units.
"To date, the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force) has endorsed the StaySafe.ph app to use for contact tracing," the DOH said.
StaySafe.PH is the country's official health condition reporting, contact tracing, and social distancing system which helps the government with its efforts to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. (PNA)
