The digital health strategy carried out by the Government of Uruguay and the Ministry of Public Health has one of its main axes in the Coronavirus UY mobile phone app.
In October, the Coronavirus UY app, available for Android and iOS devices, reached 600,000 total downloads. The app is available in the app stores of both operating systems since March 20, however, downloads increased on June 15, when the Ministry of Public Health updated the app by adding the contact tracing tool to see if the user has been exposed to COVID-19.
Exposure notifications, let users know if there is a risk of infection where they are or where they are going. And it is also a quick way for authorities to monitor potential sources of infection.
“Uruguay is the first Latin American and third country in the world to implement Contact Tracing functionality released by the Google-Apple consortium. By enabling exposure alters in cell phones it is possible to perform an automatic and rapid epidemiological tracking of new cases of COVID-19, allowing to locate and stop new outbreaks,” explained Pablo Orefice director of Salud.uy.
Data collected from mobile devices is protected by Law No. 18.331. “In addition to respecting user privacy and keeping their data safe, the app was crafted to the highest security standards,” he said.
In addition to exposure notifications, other features offered by Coronavirus UY are symptom reports, visualizing information on the current landscape of the epidemic in Uruguay, telemedicine consultations, among others.
In addition to the application, Uruguay's COVID-19 digital strategy included different digital platforms to get closer to the population, such as Chatbot on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, to continue tracking and assisting users.
