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TraceTogether tokens are seen on Monday before being distributed to residents at the Jalan Besar Community Club, as the Singapore government accelerates contact tracing efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus. (Reuters photo)
SINGAPORE: Singapore on Monday began distributing contact tracing devices to all residents who want them to bolster the city-state’s ability to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The portable electronic pager-like device, dubbed the TraceTogether token, complements the contact tracing app for smartphones that the government made available for download earlier this year, but whose use among the public has so far been limited.
“What I would like to do is reach a participation rate of 70%,” Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan told reporters, noting that around 5% of the population, who do not have smartphones, still he has not participated in the government-initiated contact tracing network. .
Since the government began making the contact tracing app available in March, 2.4 million people have downloaded it. But it has been marred by technical problems.
To complement the app, the government started delivering the portable digital devices to a small number of older people a few months ago. And now, the government aims to distribute it nationally.
Initially, the elderly will remain a target, but the device will be distributed to a broader section of society over the next three months.
With the help of these devices, the government hopes to reopen the economy safely as various types of restrictions are lifted.
“Our strategy at the moment is to reopen the economy and society, but to do so in the presence of intensive contact monitoring, regular testing … and (while) maintaining social distancing rules,” Balakrishnan said. “We hope that in the coming weeks and months we can make this reopening safely.”
On privacy issues, the foreign minister said the device identifies proximity to other devices via Bluetooth and does not track location. The data is locally encrypted within the device and the Ministry of Health can only access it when there is an infection.
“This whole program is here only because we are dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, the moment this is no longer necessary, we will close,” he said.
The government has not made the use of the TraceTogether app or the token mandatory.
Among the first in line to receive the devices at a community center in the central part of the city was Antonio Lim, 49, an operations manager in facilities management.
“This token will be much better. I will use it because it is quite small, easy to carry … it is a backup system, especially if my phone runs out of battery.”
Lim said he was not concerned about privacy because “if we do nothing wrong, we will not fear privacy problems.”
