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The COVID-19 pandemic in Fiji is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The first case of the disease in Fiji was reported on 19 March 2020 in Lautoka. as of 3 January 2022, the country has had a total of 55,009 cases as of which 2,417 are currently active and 702 deaths, with cases reported on all divisions of the country. Apart from the COVID-19 deaths, 621 COVID-19 positive patients have died from pre-existing non-COVID-19 related illnesses. In March 2021, Fiji became the first Pacific island country to receive COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX initiative with frontline workers and first responders the first to be vaccinated. As of 2 January 2022, more than 600,000 (98%) Fijians have received their first jab of the vaccine and almost 560,000 (92%) Fijians have received their second jab and are fully vaccinated. To date, only the AstraZeneca vaccine, Moderna vaccine and the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine have been deployed in the country. The country have also administered booster shots. Vaccination is mandated, however only to the adult population.
COVID-19 apps include mobile-software applications for digital contact-tracing - i.e. the process of identifying persons ("contacts") who may have been in contact with an infected individual - deployed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
TraceTogether is a digital system implemented by the Government of Singapore to facilitate contact tracing efforts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore. The main goal is quick identification of persons who may have come into close contact with anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19. The system helps in identifying contacts such as strangers encountered in public one would not otherwise be able to identify or remember. Together with SafeEntry, it allows the identification of specific locations where a spread between close contacts may occur.
The (Google/Apple) Exposure Notification (GAEN) system, originally known as the Privacy-Preserving Contact Tracing Project, is a framework and protocol specification developed by Apple Inc. and Google to facilitate digital contact tracing during the COVID-19 pandemic. When used by health authorities, it augments more traditional contact tracing techniques by automatically logging close approaches among notification system users using Android or iOS smartphones. Exposure Notification is a decentralized reporting protocol built on a combination of Bluetooth Low Energy technology and privacy-preserving cryptography. It is an opt-in feature within COVID-19 apps developed and published by authorized health authorities. Unveiled on April 10, 2020, it was made available on iOS on May 20, 2020 as part of the iOS 13.5 update and on December 14, 2020 as part of the iOS 12.5 update for older iPhones. On Android, it was added to devices via a Google Play Services update, supporting all versions since Android Marshmallow.
COVIDSafe was a digital contact tracing app released by the Australian Government on 26 April 2020 to help combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The app was intended to augment traditional contact tracing by automatically tracking encounters between users and later allowing a state or territory health authority to warn a user they have come within 1.5 metres with an infected person for 15 minutes or more. To achieve this, it used the BlueTrace and Herald protocol, originally developed by the Singaporean Government and VMWare respectively, to passively collect an anonymised registry of near contacts. The efficacy of the app was questioned over its lifetime, ultimately identifying just 2 confirmed cases by the time it was decommissioned on 16 August 2022.
Digital contact tracing is a method of contact tracing relying on tracking systems, most often based on mobile devices, to determine contact between an infected patient and a user. It came to public prominence in the form of COVID-19 apps during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the initial outbreak, many groups have developed nonstandard protocols designed to allow for wide-scale digital contact tracing, most notably BlueTrace and Exposure Notification.
NHS COVID-19 was a voluntary contact tracing app for monitoring the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in England and Wales. It had been available since 24 September 2020 for Android and iOS smartphones, and can be used by anyone aged 16 or over.
NZ COVID Tracer is a mobile software application that enables a person to record places they have visited, in order to facilitate tracing who may have been in contact with a person infected with the COVID-19 virus. The app allows users to scan official QR codes at the premises of businesses and other organisations they visit, to create a digital diary. It was launched by New Zealand's Ministry of Health on 20 May 2020, during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It can be downloaded from the App Store and Google Play.
NHS Test and Trace is a government-funded service in England, established in 2020 to track and help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Despite its name, the programme was never in fact run by the NHS: the programme is part of the UK Health Security Agency; the service and the agency are headed by Jenny Harries.
Corona-Warn-App is the official and open-source COVID-19 contact tracing app used for digital contact tracing in Germany made by SAP and Deutsche Telekom subsidiary T-Systems.
COVID Alert was the Exposure Notification service app for the country of Canada. It launched in the province of Ontario on July 31, 2020, and became available in nearly all Canadian provinces by October of that year, excluding Alberta, and British Columbia.
Immuni was an open-source COVID-19 contact tracing app used for digital contact tracing in Italy, dismissed on 31 December, 2022, after a long and debated criticism for having been a failure due to the lack of trust placed by citizens. Immuni COVID-19 contact-tracing app had in fact been downloaded only by 12% of Italians between 14 and 75 years old. It makes use of the Apple/Google Exposure Notification system.
Part of managing an infectious disease outbreak is trying to delay and decrease the epidemic peak, known as flattening the epidemic curve. This decreases the risk of health services being overwhelmed and provides more time for vaccines and treatments to be developed. Non-pharmaceutical interventions that may manage the outbreak include personal preventive measures such as hand hygiene, wearing face masks, and self-quarantine; community measures aimed at physical distancing such as closing schools and cancelling mass gathering events; community engagement to encourage acceptance and participation in such interventions; as well as environmental measures such surface cleaning. It has also been suggested that improving ventilation and managing exposure duration can reduce transmission.
Software for COVID-19 pandemic mitigation takes many forms. It includes mobile apps for contact tracing and notifications about infection risks, vaccine passports, software for enabling – or improving the effectiveness of – lockdowns and social distancing, Web software for the creation of related information services, and research and development software. A common issue is that few apps interoperate, reducing their effectiveness.
SafeEntry was a national check-in system which enables the logging of visitors at various locations during the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore, allowing health authorities to track and isolate confirmed clusters. It was used in tandem with TraceTogether, the national contact tracing platform in Singapore. The system was deactivated on 9 February 2023 after authorities determined there was no longer a need for the system.
MySejahtera is a mobile application developed by Entomo Malaysia and the Government of Malaysia to manage the COVID-19 outbreak in Malaysia. It can be used to conduct contact tracing, self-quarantine, and also book COVID-19 vaccination appointments.
A COVID-19 vaccine card is a record often given to those who have received a COVID-19 vaccine showing information such as the date(s) one has received the shot(s) and the brand of vaccine one has received, sometimes including the lot number. The card also contains information identifying the recipient and the location where the shot was given. Depending on the country, it could serve as an official document verifying one has received vaccination, which could be required by some institutions, such as a school or workplace, when boarding a cruise ship, or when crossing an international border, as proof that one has been vaccinated.
The COVID-19 vaccination campaign began in Fiji on the first quarter of 2021 and will continue throughout the year with the goal of vaccinating all eligible Fijians. The government has made it mandatory for all eligible adults to take the COVID-19 vaccines.
TousAntiCovid is a voluntary contact tracing app for monitoring the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in France. It was first released on 2 June 2020 and is available on Android and iOS smartphones.
StaySafe.ph or Stay Safe is a digital contact tracing app launched by the Philippine government as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines. The mobile app was developed and published by MultiSys Technologies Corporation.
References
- ↑ "careFIJI - Apps on Google Play". play.google.com. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
- ↑ Turaga, Semi (21 June 2020). "careFIJI COVID-19 tracing app now available to download". Fijivillage. Archived from the original on 2020-06-21. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
- ↑ Boyle, Maggie (16 May 2020). "CARE Fiji App in final phase of completion". FBC News. Archived from the original on 2020-05-21. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
- ↑ Pratap, Ritika (21 June 2020). "careFiji App foundation of phase 2 recovery: PM". FBC News. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
- ↑ Boyle, Maggie (6 June 2020). "CARE Fiji app critical to containing any future spread of COVID-19". FBC News. Archived from the original on 2020-07-03. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
- ↑ Tadulala, Koroi (20 April 2021). "Dr Fong emphasizes on the use of careFIJI App". FBC News. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
- ↑ "careFIJI App and QR not required for entry anymore". FijiTimes. 6 February 2022. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
- ↑ Kate, Talebula (21 June 2020). "COVID-19: careFIJI App forms foundation of phase 2 recovery". The Fiji Times. Archived from the original on 2020-06-21. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
- ↑ "Fijians encouraged to download COVID-19 contact tracing app after slow uptake". ABC Radio Australia. 8 September 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
- ↑ Reece, Lena (11 June 2021). "Fijians urged to update careFIJI app". FBC News. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
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