App aims to slow spread of COVID-19 in developing nations
Adrian Kriesch
May 15, 2020
Scientists at the University of Cape Town have developed a coronavirus tracing app for emerging markets — designed to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, implementing the app has been proving difficult.
Image: DW/A. Kriesch
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The view from the window of Co-Pierre Georg's workplace at home looked like a picture postcard. The sun was just setting on the Cape Town district of Camps Bay. The sky turned orange and reflected off the Atlantic Ocean.
But Georg didn't look out of the window. He was concentrating hard on the three screens in front of him.
He and his team had organized a web seminar for political decision-makers in Africa, during which he would be presenting his coronavirus tracing app, Covi-ID.
Covi-ID was developed by a team of 150 volunteer scientists, bankers, entrepreneurs and students.
Georg teaches economics at the University of Cape Town, with a focus on financial technologies. He also works for the German Bundesbank, as well as on Covi-ID.
So long as the coronavirus stops us from traveling, we'll just reminisce. DW travel editors have leafed through their photo albums and compiled their most beautiful experiences, which explain why traveling is so great.
Image: Nicole Meißner
South Africa
To one day go to Africa! In 2018 I fulfilled this dream and traveled alone to Cape Town. My highlight was a 5-day tour along the Garden Route. On safari I experienced South Africa's "Big Five," hiked through the Tsitsikamma National Park, climbed through the narrow corridors of the Cango Caves and walked with elephants. (Nicole Meißner)
Image: Nicole Meißner
Iceland
A horseback riding and discovery tour led me to Iceland in 2013. An unforgettable experience. The rugged landscape with its volcanoes, geysers, waterfalls and hot springs is like a fairytale world. No wonder that some Icelandic people believe in fairies. Doesn't this rock look like a troll? It is called Hraunkarl and can be found in a lava field in the west of Iceland. (Elisabeth Yorck)
Image: DW/E. Y v. Wartenburg
Peru
There isn't just one journey for me that's outstanding. Every trip is special, and I remember them all fondly. My favorite place to travel is Latin America. I love the people there, the mostly relaxed atmosphere and the exciting nature. The picture shows me on the Vinicunca (also known as "Rainbow Mountain") in Peru — at 5,200 m (17,060 ft.) altitude! (Lukas Stege)
Image: DW/L. Stege
Germany — Rowing on the Diemel River
I remember a family boat tour from 2009 in Hessen that turned into a great adventure. We covered 35 kilometers in three days on the Weser tributary. On the first day we already had to mend my nephew Valentin's (photo) self-built foldable boat, pierced by a stone. But we mostly marveled at the untouched wilderness offered by the Diemel valley, right in the middle of Germany. (Christian Hoffmann)
Image: DW/C. Hoffmann
A round trip of Greece
In the summer of 1989 I stood in Bulgaria, looked over to Greece and thought: I'll never be able to go there as an East German citizen! But shortly afterwards the Berlin Wall fell and one year later I was visiting Athens, Delphi, Mycenae — the cradle of Western culture! This journey was followed by many trips, to all parts of the world. Freedom of travel is a wonderful thing! (Kerstin Schmidt)
Image: DW/K. Schmidt
Camping holiday in Italy
One summer my family happened to find themselves on a camping site at the Italian lake Torre del Lago. We had no idea that our base was right next to the famous open-air Puccini Festival. After the overture campers were granted free admission — so as an 11-year-old I watched La Boheme and Madam Butterfly under a starry sky, surrounded by glow-worms and opera-loving Italians. (Sue Bonney-Cox)
Image: DW/S. Bonney-Cox
Mexico
I exchanged an apartment for one of my most exciting journeys: after the fall of the Berlin Wall, our new home owner offered us DM 5,000 (€1,278/ $1389) if we moved out within two weeks. He wanted to renovate. My friend and I didn't hesitate and used the money to fly to Mexico. A crazy culture shock for us, whose furthest journey until then had been to Italy. (Christina Deicke)
I dreamt of going to Africa ever since I was a child. When I was 25, I finally went to Kenya. Encouraged by my friend Rosi, who lived there, I dared to travel alone: A safari to Lake Turkana, by train from Nairobi to Mombasa, by bus to Lamu Island, on foot to the Mount Kenya massif (photo). I was rewarded with wonderful experiences — and friendships that last until this day. (Anne Termèche)
Image: DW/A. Termèche
The German island of Sylt
The North Sea island is one of my favorite travel destinations. The kilometer-long western shore attracts me in all seasons; I've even gone there in January. Although the weather on the North Sea changes frequently, we were treated to 10 days of uninterrupted sunshine in August 2013. So that we — like most visitors — were able to admire breathtakingly beautiful daily sunsets. (Andreas Kirchhoff)
Image: DW/A. Kirchhoff
Until the end of the world
My biggest travel adventure was a three-month backpacking tour — from Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore to Australia and New Zealand. I had only booked a few flights, otherwise there was no itinerary. At Ko Tao I learned to dive, in Sydney I had a parrot on my head and at Fox Glacier I dropped out of an airplane - with a parachute of course. (Jens Fritze)
Image: DW/J. Fritze
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QR code for users
Covi-ID was designed to help track down those who had made contact with people infected with the coronavirus. It is targeted specifically at emerging markets.
Users can sign up for a free web application on which they are asked to enter their COVID-19 status. They are then assigned a QR code, either on their smartphones or — for the majority of South Africans who do not own a smartphone — printed on paper.
The QR code is the heart of the app: "When you go to work in the morning, the QR code can be scanned as soon as you get on the bus, or by a security guard, or in the supermarket," Georg explained.
"Every time the code is scanned, you get a so-called geolocation receipt. It's like a note that says: On this day, at this time, you were at this specific place."
Coronavirus leave South Africans desperate for a drink
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Privacy concerns
Users keep control of their data. Their identities are checked via block chain, not stored on a central server. Users must agree to have the information released to health authorities if they test positive.
This will enable "contact tracers" to warn those who have been in contact with the infected user. Until now, tracers relied on an infected person's memory of whom they were in contact with, as well as when and where the meetings took place.
"Research shows that contact tracing only works if we find 60% of patients as soon as they show symptoms. And then we have to find 50% of their contacts as soon as possible," said Georg. "If it takes us four to six days to do this, it will be too slow to stop the spread of the virus."
Cape Town's Orangezicht City Farm Market has introduced a simple system: shoppers have to give their name and phone number before entering. Employees enter the data on a paper list.
"If a visitor to the market falls ill, we have to find everyone else who was here with him, so that they can isolate themselves and the virus does not spread any further," explained Sheryl Ozinsky.
Before the pandemic, the street food market attracted about 7,000 visitors daily, many of them tourists. The market was permitted to reopen at the end of April, but only to provide essential goods. Daily visitor rates dropped to 700. An app, said Ozinsky, would be an improvement on the manual system.
However, as with all tracing apps, this one will work only if a large percentage of the population uses it. Only a few countries, such as China, force their citizens to do so.
Most governments know that people who fear state surveillance, or a lack of data protection, will not cooperate.
"Whenever someone comes to me with an app, I just shrug," said Salim Abdool Karim, an epidemiologist and advisor of the South African health minister. "I've learned that the promises are exaggerated and very little is actually delivered."
At the start of the lockdown, South Africa's president, Cyril Ramaphosa, announced that telecommunications companies were working on an automated tracing solution. But the system they came up with is too inaccurate.
Despite the interest shown by government representatives at Co-Pierre Georg's web presentation, no one has signaled any interest in South Africa, or anywhere else, to turn the app into a national project.
The researchers have therefore opted to work with private companies for now. A major insurance company has shown interest and Covi-ID is set to be tested at the OrangeJezicht market.
Coronavirus: How refugee camps and slums are dealing with hygiene
Soap and water are a simple way to disinfect – if you've got them. DW looks at how the coronavirus pandemic has sent NGOs and countries scrambling to keep refugee camps and slums safe and clean.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Pilick
Yemen
Yemen is home to roughly 3.6 million internally displaced people. With much of their health and sanitation system destroyed by war, these IDPs are highly vulnerable to coronavirus while living in cramped conditions. Volunteers trained by UNICEF are raising awareness on how to keep the disease from spreading.
Image: UNICEF/UNI324899/AlGhabri
Syria
Syria faces a similar problem as it enters its tenth year of the war. Millions of Syrians live in refugee camps such as Akrabat camp, near the border with Turkey. To explain to families about the risks of coronavirus, UN workers visit the camps and use handmade puppets to explain the dangers of COVID-19.
Image: UNICEF/UNI326167/Albam
The Philippines
The long-term effects of natural disasters are also a factor. In the Philippines, public toilets, like those seen here at an evacuation center in Tacloban City, have become a breeding ground for the virus to spread. Sanitation has become even more crucial. The region has been suffering from the after-effects of Typhoon Haiyan for years.
Image: UNICEF/UNI154811/Maitem
Zambia
Some people can’t get access to clean drinking water for weeks in many water-scarce parts of the world. The Gwembe Valley has been deeply affected by the drought for the past two years. UNICEF is currently supporting rehabilitation and drilling of 60 boreholes to enforce hand washing at distribution points during the coronavirus pandemic.
Image: UNICEF/UNI308267/Karin Schermbrucker
Kenya
Various water stations have been installed across Kenya's public places to provide access to clean water. In Nairobi, a young boy follows instructions as he is shown how to wash hands properly at a water station in Kibera to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Image: UNICEF/UNI322682/Ilako
Jordan
Kafa, a 13 year old girl, returns to her family’s caravan carrying a large plastic container filled with water that she has just collected from a community water point. Refugee women in Jordan’s largest refugee camp are now making locally produced soap using natural materials and giving them away to families in need.
Image: UNICEF/UNI156134/Noorani
India
Vulnerable countries are thinking beyond soap and water to other hygienic measures. In India, people are encouraged to stitch masks from home. This also brings in money especially for women living in rural areas. This woman is making face masks at the Bihar center of Goonj, an NGO situated across several states of India undertaking disaster relief, humanitarian aid, and community development.
Image: Goonj
Bangladesh
Volunteers from many physically disabled groups are also becoming actively involved in helping to distribute disinfectants across the city of Dhaka. Roman Hossain distributes disinfectants and informs other members of his community about the importance of washing your hands regularly.
Image: CDD
Guatemala
There is an urgent need to reduce the impacts of COVID-19 crisis in Huehuetenango, Guatemala in addition to the already existing food crisis caused by the 2019 drought. Indigenous communities wait every day to collect their food and basic hygiene kits where they also get information and recommendations to prevent COVID-19 in local languages.
Image: ASEDEEs
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Lack of tests
The biggest problem for a successful use of the system on the continent is the lack of testing capacity. South Africa has already tested more than 350,000 people suspect of having COVID-19 — by far the highest number on the African continent.
But while private laboratories deliver test results within 48 hours, some state laboratories take more than five days. No app can make up for this delay.
"Ultimately we are building a risk management tool," says Georg. "It will help the government ro reopen the economy in a quick, efficient and safe way."
But he also admits: "There will be no solution for COVID-19 without solving our testing problems."
Turning face masks into a fashion statement in Africa
Who says face masks have to be bland? In Africa, fashion designers are injecting some style into masks to help tackle the coronavirus pandemic — encouraging mask use while letting people show some individuality.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/F. Belaid
Masks with personality in Algeria
Mounia Lazali, a designer in Algeria, has sewn and donated hundreds of masks – singer Joe Batoury models one of her designs, above. She told DW people "want to assert their culture and their tastes, so I think that the mask will not escape the fashion effect. If that can encourage people to protect themselves more, art will have succeeded in its mission by entering citizens’ everyday lives."
Image: Mizo Ozim
Tackling mask shortages in Rwanda
Rwanda-based tailor Alexander Nshimiyimana (second from left, above) told DW he has been producing colorful masks like these because of the stock shortages in the country. Nshimiyimana has tried to keep the price of his masks as affordable as possible so that more people can get access to one. His masks sell for around 50 US cents – while those in Rwanda's pharmacies retail for around US $2.
Image: Alexander Bell Nshimiyimana
Splashes of color in Liberia
Liberia-based The Bombchel Factory is an ethical fashion company which helps its all-female staff to become self-sufficient by offering them training in making garments. It is turning unsold skirts into bright face masks like this one, above. For every purchased mask, another gets donated to someone unable to quarantine at home – because they don’t have anywhere to stay.
Image: Marcelle Yhap
Stylish masks in Kenya
Kenyan fashion designer David Avido (above), founder of the label 'lookslike avido,' poses with a mask he made, created from leftover cloth. Since the first coronavirus case was confirmed in Kenya in March, 'lookslike avido' has so far created and distributed more than 10,000 masks for free to communities in and around the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/G. Odhiambo
Cameroon sister designers do their bit
Ange Goufack (left) and her sister Edmonde Kennang (right) have been producing these colorful face masks in Cameroon, with added plastic across the eyes. Since April 13, the government there has made it mandatory for people to wear face masks in public to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Image: Edmonde Kennang
Donating masks to hospitals in Tunisia
When the coronavirus crisis started, Tunisian designer Myriam Riza (above, adjusting a mask at the workshop of her Miss Anais label) was contacted by hospitals suffering from mask shortages. She produces the masks and distributes them to hospitals using donated fabric. To offset the cost of continuing to provide free masks to clinics, Riza decided to create masks for individual paying customers.
