The application, developed by four young residents of Bangka Belitung, should also be installed on the smartphones of those under surveillance status and have tested positive for COVID-19, Bangka Belitung Governor's Special Staff Saparudin stated here on Friday.
Conversing with journalists at the Indonesian COVID-19 Task Force's Media Center, Saparudin noted that several visitors from Palembang, South Sumatra, were made to install the application for tracking non-residents arriving in the province.
Shortly after arriving on Bangka Island, the visitors were then assisted by the government's team members to install the "Fight COVID-19" application on their cellular phones. They were also handed out a rubber bracelet bearing the message of "staying at home."
"With the installed application and bracelets, they can be traced. We are optimistic that they would stay at home for 14 days if they were carriers of the COVID-19 virus," he stated.
Developed by Ahmad Alghozi and his three friends, the Fight COVID-19 application enables tracking its users through their GPS data that is then stored in a server provided by the Bangka Belitung provincial government, he explained.
The coronavirus disease initially struck the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019. Since then, it has spread to at least 202 countries and territories, including Indonesia, with a massive spurt in death toll.
On account of COVID-19 infections spreading to all 34 provinces in Indonesia, President Jokowi has declared the coronavirus outbreak a national disaster.
In breaking the chains of this coronavirus outbreak, several city, district, and provincial governments in Indonesia have also imposed large-scale social restriction measures.
As of April 23, Indonesia had recorded 7,775 confirmed cases of COVID-19, while death toll from the virus had reached 647, and as many as 960 patients had recovered from the infection so far.
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Translator: Aditya R, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Sri Haryati
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