HCM City pilots mobile app monitoring home-quarantined people
Ho Chi Minh City is piloting the use of a mobile app developed by military-run telecom group Viettel to continuously monitor close contacts with COVID-19 patients, or F1 cases, who are under home quarantine.
Mobile app VHD (Vietnam Health Declaration) will help HCM City, the country’s current largest COVID-19 hotspot, to keep track of the self-quarantined, make sure they strictly observe rules set by the Ministry of Health (MoH) and get updates about their health conditions.
The app has been used by the MoH to monitor how individuals entering Vietnam from pandemic-hit regions observe quarantine rules on a trial basis.
It uses a combination of GPS signals and facial recognition technology to randomly check the whereabouts of individuals under home quarantine and if they break the rules and leave the house.
The home quarantined persons will be required to register their mobile number and a Face ID, along with the location of their houses. They are also required to make a health declaration three times a day and immediately report their health conditions, via the app, if they have fever, cough or shortness of breath to receive support.
HCM City’s Department of Information and Telecommunications and Department of Health have worked together to assist Viettel in organizing four virtual training sessions for medical staff in all districts and Thu Duc City.
The pilot project, which takes place from July 17 – 31, is running in at least one commune of each district and Thu Duc City before it is scaled up citywide.
