An Automated Contact Tracing Approach for Controlling Covid-19 Spread Based on Geolocation Data From Mobile Cellular Networks

Abstract

The coronavirus (COVID-19) has appeared as the greatest challenge due to its continuous structural evolution as well as the absence of proper antidotes for this particular virus. The virus mainly spreads and replicates itself among mass people through close contact which unfortunately can happen in many unpredictable ways. Therefore, to slow down the spread of this novel virus, the only relevant initiatives are to maintain social distance, perform contact tracing, use proper safety gears, and impose quarantine measures. But despite being conceptually possible, these approaches are very difficult to uphold in densely populated countries and areas. Therefore, to control the virus spread, researchers and authorities are considering the use of smartphone based mobile applications (apps) to identify the likely infected persons as well as the highly risky zones to maintain isolation and lockdown measures. However, these methods heavily depend on advanced technological features and expose significant privacy loopholes. In this paper, we propose a new method for COVID-19 contact tracing based on mobile phone users' geolocation data. The proposed method will help the authorities to identify the number of probable infected persons without using smartphone based mobile applications. In addition, the proposed method can help people take the vital decision of when to seek medical assistance by letting them know whether they are already in the list of exposed persons. Numerical examples demonstrate that the proposed method can significantly outperform the smartphone app-based solutions.

Digital Contact Tracing: Large-Scale Geolocation Data as an Alternative to Bluetooth-Based Apps Failure

“…There are few incipient works in the literature exposing the failure of the deployed contact-tracing apps and proposing alternative solutions that do not rely on new mobile apps [16][17][18][19]. We believe it would be important to run pilots for the more promising ones to measure efficiency.…”

Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions against COVID-19 Pandemic: Review of Contact Tracing and Social Distancing Technologies, Protocols, Apps, Security and Open Research Directions

“…In this system, user devices are installed with the contact tracing apps and connected with 5G networks which enable users to perform contact tracing without infringing on the privacy bounds of other users. Similarly, Rahman and Khan [ 101 ] proposed a contact tracing framework using user position data provided by the cellular network. The protocol is utilized to pinpoint high-risk areas of COVID-19 and trace the contact of infected persons.…”

Wireless Technologies for Social Distancing in the Time of COVID-19: Literature Review, Open Issues, and Limitations

“…Various kinds of implementation were used in the literature using different tools and settings. On one hand some studies have made their implementation using real experiments such as [ 27 , 30 , 35 , 36 , 39 , 40 , 41 ], while some studies have conducted a simulation-based implementations, such as [ 29 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ]. On the other hand, few studies made both implementation, simulation based and real experiments, such as [ 28 , 37 ], while the study [ 38 ] did not present implementation method.…”