Singapore has started distributing contact tracing devices with Singapore Bluetooth to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The new Bluetooth device is an alternative to the contact tracing app that the government has launched for use on smartphones. This is a token system called ‘Trace Together’.
For those who do not have a smartphone or do not want to use a mobile phone, this new system is being introduced. The launch of the new device has been announced after concerns were raised by some quarters about whether using this app on smartphones could protect the privacy of personal information. News from the BBC
The first batch of this device is being given to elderly people who are at risk and who have no family to look after them or who have difficulty moving.
This token will have a specific code or code to identify each token holder and will not be required to charge the token device. Its battery will work for up to nine months. This device will detect the signals of people using ‘Trace Together’ via tokens or smartphones in the vicinity via Bluetooth.
If the device can catch someone who is infected with coronavirus in the vicinity, the contact tracing officer will contact the device user and alert him.
If the person is identified as Covid-19 positive due to contact with someone in the vicinity, then that information will be downloaded from that token. Concerns about violations of users’ privacy have already been dismissed by ministers. They argued that the device was not designed to monitor human movements.
The Singapore government has said the information it collects on the token will be specially protected and stored on the token for a maximum of 25 days. Authorities say no one will be able to collect the information remotely because the token has no Internet connection or mechanical capabilities like cellphones.
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The government says the token does not have a global positioning system or GPS system. As a result, this token cannot determine where you are. The Singapore government says about 2.1 million people have downloaded the smartphone-based Trace Together app since it launched it in March.
Authorities say they want to make sure that the Trust Together program is used more widely so that people from all walks of life can participate more widely as economic activity resumes in Singapore and businesses reopen.
Earlier this month, the Singapore government began opening non-emergency stores. Restaurants and bars have also just opened. The token was created by PCI, a Singapore-based electronics company. In the first phase, they created 300,000 tokens at a cost of S ২০ 20 per token.
A total of 213 new infections were detected in Singapore on Sunday. Of these, only 11 people have been infected from within the country. All other infections occurred in migrant workers’ residential hostels. As a result, the total number of victims of Covid-19 in Singapore stood at 43,459.
