A new self-quarantine app developed by a group of young Cambodians named Jizo Team will help track those suspected of being infected with Covid-19. Supplied
To assist frontline doctors at the Ministry of Health who are working closely with patients and quarantined people to monitor their health, a young Cambodian team has developed an app just for the purpose.
“We spent four weeks to develop the Healthy Home Self-Quarantine App for both Android and iOS.
“The purpose of the app is to reduce the Covid-19 infection rate to save our country from this devastating disease,” says Cheat Morokot who led the Jizo Team that developed the app.
The key features of the programme include self-monitoring, health history, creating reports, alerting users and informing the authorities when they leave their quarantine location.
It will help users to obtain treatment as soon as possible by connecting them directly to the authorities.
“The Self-Quarantine App is a mobile application to help those who are suspected of having Covid-19 to monitor their health during quarantine and to facilitate quarantine management by the authorities,” says Morokot.
Those who are supposed to be isolating themselves at home or any designated place are required to pinpoint their locations. Then the App connected with smartphone alerts the users if they leave the safe radius of their quarantine locations.
“Another main feature of the app is to allow users to input their daily health data, checking their temperature and relevant symptoms, which would be sent to the relevant authorities,” says Morokot.
The user inputs data twice a day – in the morning and evening – to track his health condition such as if he has a dry cough, sore throat and fever. This data will be sent to the authorities and the ministry.
Morokot studied Advanced Control and Optimisation at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand and tells The Post that “an alert via Telegram bot and Web Admin will be sent to the relevant authorities for appropriate interventions if the individual refuses to return to their quarantine locations.
“This would allow the authorities to act quickly and effectively if they identify an individual that requires emergency support.
“The users can also benefit from monitoring their health and getting suggestions according to their input,” says Morokot.
Users need to download Healthy Home - Self Quarantine App after signing in with their mobile phone number.
“They just set a quarantine location point. On the home page, the individual can click the “Insert data” button to start answering questions related to Covid-19 symptoms and then click submit. That is it,” Morokot says.
Since the users aren’t required to input details of their personal information but only their phone numbers, their medical data remains confidential.
“From the privacy perspective, the app itself will collect only minimal information. It will not collect information that directly identifies the user, such as name, sex and nationality, etc.
“Only their phone number is required since it is a piece of critical information for the authorities to reach them quickly when they need emergency help. All information will be strictly accessible only by the authorities,” she says.
She says the app is specifically for Covid-19 patients, those suspected to have contracted the disease, and quarantined people monitored by the doctors or the authorities.
The Jizo Team who has eight members was originally started to build e-commerce platforms but they decided to shift to developing the health app to help stem the pandemic in the Kingdom.
“Because of Covid-19, we developed the self-quarantine app to help prevent the spread of this new disease. When Covid-19 is over, we will continue with developing e-commerce platforms,” she says.
Jizo Team was established in January as a start-up which focuses on Information Communication Technology (ICT), the Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning, and Technology to solve problems in society.
“The Jizo Team’s app is currently awaiting final development in collaboration with the ministries of Health, and Posts and Telecommunications.
“We hope it will be launched soon and implemented for those who are under the mandatory 14-day quarantine,” says Morokot.
She says in the team are Oem Daro who is an IT developer responsible for developing the mobile app programme. Mey Chamroeun is a researcher working on the algorithm for our platform.
“Ly Porhour is a UX designer who designed the interfaces for our application, while SimPenglong, LorPuy, Penh Sohai and Samorn Phanga are team members,” says Morokot.
The Healthy Home Self-Quarantine App was reviewed along with another one and a ventilator, all built by young and innovative Cambodian engineers, during a meeting between a Technology Study-Research Team and a team from the National Institute of Posts, Telecoms, and ICT (NIPTICT).
Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Chea Vandeth who presided over the meeting, says the engineering teams continue to work with the Ministry of Health to put their products in use shortly.
