Abstract
The outbreak of viruses have necessitated contact tracing and infection tracking methods. Despite various efforts, there is currently no standard scheme for the tracing and tracking. Therefore, many nations of the world have developed their own ways where carriers of disease could be tracked and their contacts traced. These are generalized methods developed either in a distributed manner giving citizens control of their identity or in a centralized manner where a health authority gathers data on those who are carriers. This paper outlines some of the most significant approaches that have been established for contact tracing around the world. A comprehensive review on the key enabling methods used to realize the infrastructure around these infection tracking and contact tracing methods is also presented, and recommendations are made for the most effective way to develop such a practice.
Highlights
In December 2019, the Wuhan area of China was the first in the world to experience the spread of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Zhou et al (2020) found that in two hospitals in the area, of those who were discharged and had died, 48% had a co-morbidity with hypertension (30%) and coronary heart disease (8%) being the most common
These methods are mainly Bluetooth based where a Bluetooth beacon is sent between Bob and Alice when they are within a given proximity and for a minimum amount of exposure time
The European Pan-European Privacy Preserving Proximity Tracing Initiative (PEPP-PT) proposes an open source Bluetooth-based platform sharing software, standards, and services that can be utilized for the development of COVID-19 contact-tracing apps
Summary
In December 2019, the Wuhan area of China was the first in the world to experience the spread of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Zhou et al (2020) found that in two hospitals in the area, of those who were discharged and had died, 48% had a co-morbidity with hypertension (30%) and coronary heart disease (8%) being the most common. Germany was able to hold off the disease for a few weeks by using manual contact tracing and moving COVID-19-positive patients to quarantine 2020, but the effectiveness of contact tracing relies on the faster growth of identified cases than the number of new infections (Eames and Keeling, 2003), which is not possible in manual tracing. This limitation is stressed out by the exponential spread of the disease enabled by a higher-population density and frequent movement of urban residents.
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