Three MKU researchers develop Covid-19 contact tracing app

As the Covid-19 crisis continues to ravage the country, Kenyans are battling to devise ways to combat it.

From automatic handwashing machines, personal protective equipment and ventilators, Kenyans are not relenting in innovating ways to suppress the virus and flatten the curve.

Three researchers from Mount Kenya University (MKU) are the latest local innovators to join in the fight against the contagion, which has claimed more than half-a-million people across the globe.

Donatus Njoroge (a Biochemist and a lecturer at MKU), Gideon Kamau (an IT expert) and Dr Jesse Gitaka (a medic) have developed a Covid-19 contact tracing application named KoviTrace. It has the ability to trace people who might have been in close contact with a patient for the last 14 days.

Initially, according to the trio, the system was only meant to create awareness and offered recommendations as provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Ministry of Health to Kenyans in case one exhibited symptoms.

The system, according to Njoroge, has a back-end system, which is a web-controlled portal that can be used by the administrator, in this case the Ministry of Health, and a front-end system that can be accessed by Kenyans with smartphones or through USSD for those without such phones.

 “The App keeps track of locations and time stamps in a database, which is the back-end that can only be accessed by the administrator (Ministry of Health),” he said.

"The administrator will only key in the mobile number of the patient and command the system to trace contacts. The system will compare the patient’s data, location and time stamps against all other people and if there is an overlap, the system will automatically generate an SMS instructing everybody the patient has come into close contact with, to self-quarantine or go for testing,”

Njoroge spoke at the university in Thika on Saturday. He said the system enables users to assess their vulnerability or exposure to the virus, as it’s installed with WHO's facts, answers and questions (FAQs) regarding the disease.

"The app has a self-testing tool, which is basically questions like travel history and the current scenario of the user. The system has an inbuilt algorithm that calculates whether the user has a low, medium or high risk of contracting Covid-19,” he said.

The app gives user instructions on whether to self-quarantine or go for testing, among other recommendations. “The system is also equipped with all hotlines for Covid-19 response teams in the 47 counties to help users get help on time,” Njoroge said.

Njoroge said the system, if adopted by the government, can save the Ministry of Health time and resources it has been using in tracing contacts, noting that it guarantees efficiency and effectiveness are guaranteed.

“The current contact tracing is being done using the patient’s memory and word of mouth. But this app will removes barriers and associated cost in contact tracing because the administrator will not have to ask patients who they came into contact with. The app objectifies contact tracing and uses technology to leverage,” he said.

Dr Gitaka said the app is well designed not to victimise patients and the messages sent to contacts are encrypted to protect personal data and privacy.

“The system is also able to determine how long the patient was in contact with the other person to avoid unnecessary alarms like victimising people who just passed by the patient. We have also ensured that personal data and privacy of both the contacts and the patient is safeguarded,” Gitaka said.

IT expert Kamau said the system will be upgraded even post-Covid-19 to address other related infections.

“This app will be repurposed to tackle other outbreaks like Cholera, chikungunya in the coastal regions and dengue in the Northeastern region,” Kamau said.

The trio is now calling on the government, through the Ministry of Health, to consider approving and adopting the app as the country seeks solutions in time to help in reopening the economy.

Edited by F'Orieny