Singapore kicked off a global rush to develop contact tracing apps for the novel coronavirus when the city-state launched an apparently new system in March.
But the project actually drew inspiration from a 2014 U.S. high school project that won an international prize but found no backers - until now.
It all started when Rohan Suri created an app at Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria, Virginia, to tell his mom to leave home for the bus stop when he was seven minutes away. As the Ebola epidemic ravaged western Africa at the time, Suri and schoolmate Claire Scoggins connected the dots between tracking apps and contact tracers who ask patients whom they may have spread viruses to.
"I got really interested in basically automating a lot of these contact tracing efforts," Suri said, noting a staff shortage in remote parts of Africa during the Ebola epidemic.
When Suri and Scoggins developed a prototype called kTrace, they appealed to medical aid organizations and the U.S. government to bring it to the frontlines. But they found no takers, even after winning third place for systems software at the 2015 International Science and Engineering Fair.
The app languished until Suri, now a 21-year-old junior at Stanford University, got an email on Jan. 24 from Jason Bay, a Stanford alum and senior director at Singapore's Government Technology Agency (GovTech).
"My mom had texted me saying, 'You've got to look at this virus in Wuhan and do something about it,'" Suri said, referring to the city in China where the coronavirus outbreak began. "I didn't take it seriously, though, and week later the Singapore government is reaching out."
Bay's team had been looking for technology to help curb the coronavirus and came across kTrace online. Suri spent February and March volunteering on GovTech's TraceTogether app alongside fellow Stanford students Nikhil Cheerla and Daniel Lee.
They said they gave Singapore a roadmap by sharing kTrace's code and providing advice in virtual meetings on stronger privacy protections. They also collected 13 phones to help test Bluetooth technology.
Singapore was "just looking around for any way to speed up the development process and we fit in," Cheerla said.
The agency said it contacted Suri "to understand his experiences and considerations in designing kTrace for Android." But Suri "did not commit code to TraceTogether, nor did (GovTech) use kTrace in the development of TraceTogether," it added.
NEW PROJECT
University scientists Kate Farrahi and Manuel Cebrian said their studies as early as 2011 were the first to show Bluetooth readings could aid contact tracing. They did not develop an app, however, and Suri had not seen their work in high school.
But since Singapore's app launched, several dozen governments, including Australia, Britain and U.S. states such as North Dakota, have spent millions of dollars among them to develop separate tracing apps. Government health authorities administer and promote the apps and link them to their testing systems.
Many other governments are monitoring progress in Singapore, where about 25% of the country's 5.6 million residents have downloaded TraceTogether.
Contact tracing apps largely use anonymous Bluetooth radio exchanges to automatically log nearby users. The technology aims to slow viruses by identifying secondhand infections more quickly than through interviews.
But privacy concerns are a hurdle, and the technology does not work well on iPhones. A fix Apple Inc introduced in partnership with Alphabet Inc's Google last month limits the personal data contact tracing apps can collect, which authorities say reduces their effectiveness.
Singapore has adopted a costly solution: Giving residents small tracing gadgets, possibly worn on a lanyard, that do not require smartphones.
Suri said he, too, had developed a wearable device in high school because Ebola infections were highest in countries with low smartphone ownership.
Suri is now focusing on a third app called Zero, aimed at U.S. cities.
The day after TraceTogether launched, a friend who knew about Suri's involvement introduced him to a handful of New York entrepreneurs and venture capitalists seeking to bring similar technology to the United States.
They ended up co-founding Zero, which aims to attract users by bundling contact tracing technology with a safety-rating tool for shops and restaurants based on measures such as occupancy limits and mask rules.
"You need a strategy that goes hyperlocal, and that's what Zero is doing," Suri said.
For example, a shopper would check Zero for safety ratings before deciding where to go. Shops could promote special hours through the app for customers who wear masks.
Zero launched for iPhones last week, with its first business listings coming soon in New Rochelle, New York. Contact tracing will be added when cities agree to become partners.
Reuters
Wed Jun 10 2020
An undated handout photo shows Rohan Suri, who developed the Bluetooth-based contact tracing app kTrace in 2014 and helped Singapore develop its pioneering TraceTogether system for COVID-19 - Rohan Suri, Founder for SafeMaps/Handout via REUTERS
Freedom Flotilla to Gaza: Guinea-Bissau akur kepada Israel, tidak beri kebenaran guna bendera bagi misi pelayaran
Kerajaan Republik Guinea-Bissau dilaporkan tunduk dan akur kepada gesaan Israel untuk tidak membenarkan misi pelayaran Break The Siege: Freedom Flotilla to Gaza menggunakan bendera mereka.
Penyakit berkaitan haba dikhuatiri meningkat di Gaza
Penularan penyakit berkaitan haba panas menjadi kebimbangan terbaharu di Gaza selepas suhu luar jangka melampau melanda wilayah itu setiap hari. Ia sudah semestinya diburukkan lagi dengan kekurangan air bersih dan ketiadaan sistem pembuangan sisa pepejal yang sepatutnya wujud di sesebuah kawasan didiami manusia.
Ilhan Omar melawat peserta tunjuk perasaan
Wakil Dewan Perwakilan Amerika Syarikat (AS) Ilhan Omar mengadakan lawatan di kampus penyokong Pro Palestin di Universiti Columbia New York pada Khamis.
Dua lelaki didakwa jadi 'tali barut' kepada China
Dua lelaki yang mana salah seorangnya pernah bertugas di Parlimen United Kingdom (UK) enjalani proses perbicaraan di mahkamah London pada Jumaat selepas didakwa menjadi tali barut menyalurkan maklumat sulit kerajaan kepada negara tembok besar itu.
Polis serbu pejabat 'Save the Children' di Guatemala
Polis Guatemala melakukan serbuan mengejut ke atas pejabat-pejabat Pertubuhan Save the Children di pelbagai lokasi di negara itu. Ia bagi mencari bukti dakwaan pertubuhan yang memperjuangkan kebajikan kanak-kanak itu, terlibat dalam jenayah penderaan terhadap golongan itu.
LIMA '25 dianjurkan pada 20-24 Mei tahun depan
Pameran Maritim dan Aeroangkasa Antarabangsa Langkawi 2025 (LlMA ‘25) akan dianjurkan pada 20 hingga 24 Mei tahun depan bertemakan Innovate Today, Thrive Tomorrow.
Malaysia komited tingkat hubungan dua hala bersama Libya
Malaysia terus komited mempertingkatkan hubungan dua hala yang berterusan bersama Libya demi manfaat bersama dalam pelbagai sektor.
Demi rakyat, Zahid-Muhyiddin henti saman fitnah
Presiden Umno, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi dan Presiden Bersatu, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin bersepakat untuk menamatkan pertikaian peribadi antara mereka.
Sultan Selangor berangkat ke Majlis Bacaan Yassin di Pangkalan TLDM
Sultan Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah yang juga Kepten Yang Dipertua Tentera Laut Diraja Malaysia (TLDM) berkenan berangkat ke Pangkalan TLDM Lumut di Perak bagi menghadiri Majlis Bacaan Yasin, Tahlil dan Khutbah Khas sempena Sambutan Hari TLDM ke-90.
PM Anwar pulangkan elaun Pengerusi Khazanah
Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim memaklumkan beliau memulangkan elaun sebagai pengerusi Khazanah Nasional Berhad yang diterimanya dan sekali lagi menegaskan tidak menerima gaji bagi jawatan Perdana Menteri yang disandangnya sejak November 2022.
#GempakSpot: Instagram removes 'Following' tab
Now you no longer have to get into petty fights with your significant other.
Sekat berita palsu, mesej WhatsApp hanya boleh di'forward' kepada 5 individu
Hal ini demikian bagi mengelak maklumat yang salah dan khabar angin tersebar secara berleluasa.
Beli-belah guna Ringgit Malaysia di aplikasi Amazon
Syarikat Amazon melancarkan ciri terbaru dalam aplikasi untuk pengguna membeli-belah sebanyak 45 juta barangan yang boleh dihantar ke satu dunia dihantar ke seluruh dunia melalui peranti mudah alih.
Aplikasi baharu AirAsia jamin pengalaman penerbangan lebih selesa
Penumpang AirAsia kini boleh menikmati pengalaman penerbangan yang lebih lancar dengan aplikasi mudah alih terbaru AirAsia.