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Singapore’s TraceTogether tokens are a similar concept to CovidCards, but Singapore has chosen to implement the idea in a different way.
Fifteen days after businessman Sam Morgan criticized the Health Ministry for not understanding the potential of ‘CovidCards’, Singapore has begun issuing similar contact tracing devices to all residents who want them.
Like CovidCards, Singapore’s TraceTogether tokens exchange Bluetooth signals with other similar tokens, providing a record of who people have been in close contact with, and for how long, if they are diagnosed with Covid-19.
However, there are several differences in the implementation of the technology in Singapore.
Its TraceTogether tokens are designed to be interoperable with smartphones that have downloaded a Bluetooth application and can serve as a proximity device.
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They are larger than CovidCards, slightly smaller but thicker than a pack of playing cards, and are intended to be carried in a pocket or purse, while CovidCards are designed to be used as a lanyard.
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Work on CovidCard continues, but without the current involvement of Trade Me founder Sam Morgan.
Dean Armstrong, a wireless technology expert at Hamilton, who developed the CovidCard, said Singapore’s decision was “a strong validation” of the token-based approach to improving contact tracing.
“Singapore led the world in the smartphone-based approach and has since de-prioritized it in favor of this,” he said.
But he believed that New Zealand-designed CovidCards were better.
“We have a much smaller form factor and a longer battery life.”
The battery for TraceTogether tokens is expected to last six months.
Singapore’s approach of allowing people to use a dedicated token or smartphone was interesting, he said.
”You need to be prepared to sacrifice precision to get there.
“From a technical perspective, we could potentially do the same with a CovidCard,” he said.
“But you need to be very careful not to dilute the overall impact of the system or compromise performance to the point where you don’t achieve what you need to help manage the pandemic.”
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Dr. Dean Armstrong, Waikato Wireless Expert.
CovidCard supporter and Animation Research founder Ian Taylor said that CovidCard had been designed to offer better privacy protection than smartphone-based alternatives.
That was partly because they weren’t open to the internet, so they could only be read once they were physically handed over to contact trackers.
CovidCards were tested in a trial that was overseen by the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago in Wellington, on behalf of the Department of Home Affairs.
Government Digital Services Minister Kris Faafoi has said they have been shown to work “in a controlled environment.”
Morgan has indicated that he is not willing to spend more time on the project because he does not believe that Health Ministry officials are taking it seriously.
However, there is no commercial entity behind the proposal and the Government has indicated that it will continue with a new test of CovidCards in Rotorua to test the willingness of people to use them, and with a test by the staff and residents of a managed isolation facility.
Taylor believed there was still some confusion among officials about the technology and the ways it would help manually trace contacts.
The deputy director general of the Ministry of Health, Shayne Hunter, has not been available for an interview.
Neither CovidCards nor TraceTogether need to record people’s location.
But in Singapore, residents will need to have the TraceTogether token or the app on their smartphone to enter many places.
The nature of proximity-based contact tracing, whether on smartphones or using tokens, means that acceptance must be near universal to be most effective.
