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Using technology created by Apple and Google, the Health Ministry has improved its Covid-19 contact tracing capabilities ahead of the busy Christmas and New Year period.
New Bluetooth capabilities rolling out to the NZ Covid Tracer app on Thursday digitally record a user’s “anonymous handshake” with people they come in contact with.
“In the event that someone tests positive [and you digitally] He shook hands with them, they will be notified ”, explained the deputy director of general and digital data of the Ministry of Health, Shayne Hunter.
The technology was adopted by Ireland in May when its application was being developed. It was launched in July. New Zealand compared the banknotes to Ireland before launching them in the run-up to the holiday period.
“We’re going to have a lot of people moving,” Hunter said. “[It’s a] it’s a good time to post it to the app. “
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‘We are so proud’
The technology created by Apple and Google, called the Exposure Notification Framework (ENF), has been adopted by 25 other countries around the world.
Ireland was an early adopter of this technology and the application they created has helped countries around the world develop their own.
“We are very proud,” said Barry Lowry, Irish government information director in the department of public spending and reform on global acceptance. “There is no other way to say it”.
Scotland, Northern Ireland, Gibraltar, and several states in the United States, notably New York and New Jersey, already use Bluetooth tracking in their Covid-19 response.
Talking to Things from Ireland, Lowry explained that the app was created with the goal of being shared around the world and assisting in the global response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Brian Lawless / AP
Signs reminding people to practice physical distancing have been posted around Belfast.
“I would say that for us and for Ireland it has been a real boost that our app is so successful and that other people have wanted to use it.
“In some respects, [with] the app is being used in other countries, we were as proud as that ultimately as we were about accepting our own people. “
By Wednesday morning 1.3 million active users had signed up, about 30 percent of the Irish population.
When development of the app began, the Irish government contacted industry experts in Europe, Singapore, Australia and the US to identify key metrics and goals. Academics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) highlighted a 25 percent download and usage rate as an initial goal.
“Obviously we would like 50 [to] 60 percent, but we think this will go up and down as various things happen, ”Lowry said.
On launch day, a million people downloaded the app.
New Zealand used the successes of technology in Ireland as a source of information for its own application. “We stay close to the Irish who have been using the same frame,” Hunter said.
The Health Ministry has also been monitoring Singapore’s successes with its own version of Bluetooth tracking.
The Bluetooth feature in the New Zealand app will not be enabled by default. Users will need to approve the use of the phone’s Bluetooth feature before it can start tracking contacts.
Ireland’s contact tracing app has proven popular with users, Lowry said. It includes two additional features that the Ministry of Health app lacks: users can enter the symptoms they experience and keep track of how many positive cases and contacts across the country have shared their Bluetooth data.
To date, 5,587 infected users have shared their Bluetooth data, and 10,180 linked users have downloaded their passwords, or unique identification numbers, with their permission.
It has been used as a way to fill in the gaps that infected people cannot and identify contacts that people did not know they were in contact with.
“If you go out with friends and they diagnose you positive, you will remember who you dated. But if you were to commute to work by public transportation, you wouldn’t know who is near you, so that’s where it really adds value, ”Lowry explained.
No Trojan horses
Protecting the privacy of users was one of the main goals of the Irish government from the beginning. “We try to put privacy right at the heart,” Lowry said.
This is why it chose to share the source code publicly at launch and make it a requirement for other jurisdictions using its technology.
“One of the things we absolutely wanted to refute was anyone’s suggestion that there were, I suppose, Trojan horses or Easter eggs … The best way to approach that was to just post the code.”
Hunter added that sharing the source code on the front-end of the application allows people to interrogate the software and provide feedback, allowing the ministry to collectively make improvements.
Neither the Ministry of Health, Apple nor Google will have access to the data of Kiwi users.
“Everything is saved on the phone, we don’t keep track of anything,” Hunter explained.
Bluetooth-enabled devices will record anonymized numbers of people within one meter for more than 15 minutes. Hunter said the parameters have been set relatively conservatively to begin with, but can be adjusted over time.
The process for releasing collected data via Bluetooth tracking is the same as for sharing QR code records. With permission, contact tracking teams will provide the infected person with a special code that shares their data.
Your keys will be uploaded and added to a file that is verified by active applications across the country. Then running numbers will be alerted to potential exposure, but users will not be identified.
“Contact trackers don’t know anything about anything,” Hunter said. “They just let the system do its thing and alert people.”
The Ministry of Health has the ability to tamper with the alert messages distributed, but they are aware that they do not overwhelm contact tracing staff or alarm people. The main messages may ask users to contact public health units or monitor their symptoms.
“Over time, we will refine the nature of the message based on what the data actually tells the application. It could be anything from ‘be careful’ to ‘we think you should get tested.’
‘A tool in our toolkit’
This update does not deny the QR code registrations, which the Health Ministry implores people to continue to do. Rather, it collects additional information that will be helpful in contacting the tracking teams, should users give them permission to use the data.
Identifying locations linked to infected cases remains one of the most useful pieces of information when it comes to tracking contacts.
“We certainly don’t want people to think that you don’t need to scan now,” Hunter said. “Bluetooth is another tool in the toolkit … scanning is still critical.”
Lowry reflected that sentiment. “It was a tool in our toolkit in the effort against Covid, it was not the tool,” he said of the app.
More updates for the Ministry of Health’s NZ Covid Tracer app are on the horizon and will be rolled out in the new year.
Correction: An earlier version of the story credited the Irish government with creating the ENF.
