USING A Mobile App FOr CONTACT TRACING Can STOp the Epidemic

Our proposal is to combine a mobile contact tracing app together with social distancing, shielding the vulnerable, and widespread and fast testing.



Classic contact tracing is important, but can be slow and provide incomplete tracing records as it relies on memory and knowing all the people with whom you have come into close proximity contact.

A mobile app approach will allow for contact tracing to be instantaneous, efficient, and at unlimited scale. It will include people you have come into prolonged contact with on public transport or in crowded public spaces.





From Ferretti et al., Science, 31 March 2020 (DOI 10.1126/science.abb6936 ). Reprinted with permission from AAAS​.





An approach can replace days of work performing manual contact tracing by delivering an instantaneous, scalable messaging service. Critically, it can help slow the spread of infection until vaccines and antiviral treatments become widely available. A mobile app can reduce transmission of COVID-19 at any stage of the epidemic, whether it is emerging, at its peak, or to support a safe transition out of restricted movement or localised lockdowns.



PRoPosed System

The mobile app system that we have mathematically modelled is simple and would not need to track geographic location. It could use low-energy Bluetooth to log a memory of all the other app users with whom a person has come into close proximity contact. If one person becomes infected, their contacts are alerted instantly and anonymously, and advised to self-isolate.



Users would also have the choice to share additional data to help health services identify trends and target interventions to reach those most in need. We propose that the app should be opt-in and provide secure data storage and privacy protection. The apps design and implementation should be informed by public and user engagement at every stage.

