COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps: A Technologic Tower of Babel and the Gap for International Pandemic Control

Du, Liqing; Raposo, Vera Lúcia; Wang, Meng

doi:10.2196/23194

Cited by 34 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Contact tracing is the process of identifying, assessing, and managing people who have been exposed to a disease to prevent onward transmission [ 10 ]. Until a COVID-19 vaccine is commercially available to the public, contact tracing tools are vital in breaking the chains of transmission of the virus.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Technology, Privacy, and User Opinions of COVID-19 Mobile Apps for Contact Tracing: Systematic Search and Content Analysis

Elkhodr¹,

Mubin²,

Iftikhar³

et al. 2021

J Med Internet Res

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Background Many countries across the globe have released their own COVID-19 contact tracing apps. This has resulted in the proliferation of several apps that used a variety of technologies. With the absence of a standardized approach used by the authorities, policy makers, and developers, many of these apps were unique. Therefore, they varied by function and the underlying technology used for contact tracing and infection reporting. Objective The goal of this study was to analyze most of the COVID-19 contact tracing apps in use today. Beyond investigating the privacy features, design, and implications of these apps, this research examined the underlying technologies used in contact tracing apps. It also attempted to provide some insights into their level of penetration and to gauge their public reception. This research also investigated the data collection, reporting, retention, and destruction procedures used by each of the apps under review. Methods This research study evaluated 13 apps corresponding to 10 countries based on the underlying technology used. The inclusion criteria ensured that most COVID-19-declared epicenters (ie, countries) were included in the sample, such as Italy. The evaluated apps also included countries that did relatively well in controlling the outbreak of COVID-19, such as Singapore. Informational and unofficial contact tracing apps were excluded from this study. A total of 30,000 reviews corresponding to the 13 apps were scraped from app store webpages and analyzed. Results This study identified seven distinct technologies used by COVID-19 tracing apps and 13 distinct apps. The United States was reported to have released the most contact tracing apps, followed by Italy. Bluetooth was the most frequently used underlying technology, employed by seven apps, whereas three apps used GPS. The Norwegian, Singaporean, Georgian, and New Zealand apps were among those that collected the most personal information from users, whereas some apps, such as the Swiss app and the Italian (Immuni) app, did not collect any user information. The observed minimum amount of time implemented for most of the apps with regard to data destruction was 14 days, while the Georgian app retained records for 3 years. No significant battery drainage issue was reported for most of the apps. Interestingly, only about 2% of the reviewers expressed concerns about their privacy across all apps. The number and frequency of technical issues reported on the Apple App Store were significantly more than those reported on Google Play; the highest was with the New Zealand app, with 27% of the reviewers reporting technical difficulties (ie, 10% out of 27% scraped reviews reported that the app did not work). The Norwegian, Swiss, and US (PathCheck) apps had the least reported technical issues, sitting at just below 10%. In terms of usability, many apps, such as those from Singapore, Australia, and Switzerland, did not provide the users with an option to sign out from their apps. Conclusions This article highlighted the fact that COVID-19 contact tracing apps are still facing many obstacles toward their widespread and public acceptance. The main challenges are related to the technical, usability, and privacy issues or to the requirements reported by some users.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Technology, Privacy, and User Opinions of COVID-19 Mobile Apps for Contact Tracing: Systematic Search and Content Analysis

Elkhodr¹,

Mubin²,

Iftikhar³

et al. 2021

J Med Internet Res

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show abstract

“…This has become increasingly important, given the likely resurgence of international travel when the pandemic starts to recede. Du and colleagues [ 80 ] have stated that the risk of creating a useless Tower of Babel of contact tracing apps is very real, as contact tracing apps’ inability to work across different countries renders them ineffective. Researchers should therefore identify which apps allow for cross-country use.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analyzing the Essential Attributes of Nationally Issued COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps: Open-Source Intelligence Approach and Content Analysis

Weiß¹,

Esdar²,

Hübner³

2021

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth

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Background Contact tracing apps are potentially useful tools for supporting national COVID-19 containment strategies. Various national apps with different technical design features have been commissioned and issued by governments worldwide. Objective Our goal was to develop and propose an item set that was suitable for describing and monitoring nationally issued COVID-19 contact tracing apps. This item set could provide a framework for describing the key technical features of such apps and monitoring their use based on widely available information. Methods We used an open-source intelligence approach (OSINT) to access a multitude of publicly available sources and collect data and information regarding the development and use of contact tracing apps in different countries over several months (from June 2020 to January 2021). The collected documents were then iteratively analyzed via content analysis methods. During this process, an initial set of subject areas were refined into categories for evaluation (ie, coherent topics), which were then examined for individual features. These features were paraphrased as items in the form of questions and applied to information materials from a sample of countries (ie, Brazil, China, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, and the United Kingdom [England and Wales]). This sample was purposefully selected; our intention was to include the apps of different countries from around the world and to propose a valid item set that can be relatively easily applied by using an OSINT approach. Results Our OSINT approach and subsequent analysis of the collected documents resulted in the definition of the following five main categories and associated subcategories: (1) background information (open-source code, public information, and collaborators); (2) purpose and workflow (secondary data use and warning process design); (3) technical information (protocol, tracing technology, exposure notification system, and interoperability); (4) privacy protection (the entity of trust and anonymity); and (5) availability and use (release date and the number of downloads). Based on this structure, a set of items that constituted the evaluation framework were specified. The application of these items to the 10 selected countries revealed differences, especially with regard to the centralization of the entity of trust and the overall transparency of the apps’ technical makeup. Conclusions We provide a set of criteria for monitoring and evaluating COVID-19 tracing apps that can be easily applied to publicly issued information. The application of these criteria might help governments to identify design features that promote the successful, widespread adoption of COVID-19 tracing apps among target populations and across national boundaries.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In response to the worsening situation, several countries started various means of contact tracing and isolation of their citizens [7][8][9][10][11][12]. Contact tracing represents one strategy, which slows down the spread of the viral infection and enables the identification of infected cases or those at risk, either by listing all people with whom an infected person has recently been in contact, or by using location-tracking mobile applications (apps) [7][8][9][10][11][13][14][15][16]. There has been an intensive development of contact tracing applications (CTA), using various means of technology, including QR (Quick Response) codes; GPS (Global Positioning System); credit card transmission log; CCTV (Closed Circuit Television); different COVID alert apps; and Bluetooth [1, [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementing Public Health Strategies—The Need for Educational Initiatives: A Systematic Review

Khorram‐Manesh

Dulebenets

Goniewicz³

2021

IJERPH

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In the absence of a specific treatment or vaccines, public health strategies are the main measures to use in the initial stages of a pandemic to allow surveillance of infectious diseases. During the ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), several countries initiated various public health strategies, such as contact tracing and quarantine. The present study aims to conduct a systematic literature review to identify the presence of educational initiatives that promote the implementation of public health strategies before public health emergencies, with a special focus on contact tracing applications. Using Science Direct, PubMed, Scopus, and Gothenburg University search engines, all published scientific articles were included, while conference, reports, and non-scientific papers were excluded. The outcomes of the reviewed studies indicate that the effective implementation of public health strategies depends on the peoples’ willingness to participate and collaborate with local authorities. Several factors may influence such willingness, of which ethical, psychological, and practical factors seem to be the most important and frequently discussed. Moreover, individual willingness and readiness of a community may also vary based on the acquired level of knowledge about the incident and its cause and available management options. Educational initiatives, proper communication, and timely information at the community level were found to be the necessary steps to counteract misinformation and to promote a successful implementation of public health strategies and attenuate the effects of a pandemic. The systematic review conducted as a part of this study would benefit the relevant stakeholders and policy makers and assist with effective designing and implementation.

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COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps: A Technologic Tower of Babel and the Gap for International Pandemic Control

Cited by 34 publications

References 11 publications

Technology, Privacy, and User Opinions of COVID-19 Mobile Apps for Contact Tracing: Systematic Search and Content Analysis

Technology, Privacy, and User Opinions of COVID-19 Mobile Apps for Contact Tracing: Systematic Search and Content Analysis

Analyzing the Essential Attributes of Nationally Issued COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps: Open-Source Intelligence Approach and Content Analysis

Implementing Public Health Strategies—The Need for Educational Initiatives: A Systematic Review

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