The Health Ministry is in the advanced stages of the development of yet another app, this time to replace its attempt at a contact tracing application for the coronavirus.
The new app, known as the “traffic light app”, hopes to give users personal information on their risk of infection upon entering various communities and businesses.
The previous app failed to work or gain traction with the public. The project expands on Israel's 'traffic light' system for cities, in which each community or area is gauged on the number of infected people it includes and is accordingly labeled green, yellow, orange or red – for the most infected communities.
Moreover, after people have received both doses of the coronavirus vaccination, the new app will also allow these Israelis to avoid isolation if they return from abroad or under other circumstances – if the project can pass legal scrutiny.
The app was developed by the Health Ministry in coordination with other bodies, including the Intelligence Ministry. It is expected to be launched in a few weeks, barring delays due to the lockdown.
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The Health Ministry does not provide official information about the planned app. However, according to statements made in the past by ministry representative to the relevant Knesset committees and other people with knowledge the matter, it will involve the following aspects:
‘Green passport’
People who have downloaded the app can show it to exempt them from isolation when they return from abroad or after contact with a confirmed coronavirus patient.
People who have taken both doses of the vaccination or who have recovered from COVID-19 or people who have a valid negative coronavirus test will be able to present this information through the app.
‘Traffic light for businesses’
The app will also show users how many people are in a certain business at the same time, so that customers and the store owner can know whether they meet the criteria for operation under coronavirus restrictions, which bar a larger number of people from congregating in closed spaces.
At a later stage, the app will also have a QR code reader that users can scan when entering a business. This too will give them more information about the business as well as acting as a form of contact tracer, keeping a record of who visited which store and when.
Using the app, people who have been confirmed as carriers of the virus will be able to inform the Health Ministry what businesses they visited and how long they stayed on the premises – valuable information for epidemiological investigations.
The Health Ministry would also like to see use of the app be made a precondition for entering businesses, such as malls – users would have to use the app to scan a code to be able to enter. This measure will require approval by the coronavirus cabinet and the general cabinet.
‘Traffic light for communities’
Users will receive information about the coronavirus status of various cities and towns in Israel, according to the “traffic light” system, and will be informed as to the various restrictions in force in the town. Depending on the risk group the user is in, they will be able to gauge the risk of infection in entering certain areas.
Questions and dilemmas abound
There are quite a few questions surrounding the app – first and foremost, which alternative people who don’t want to use it will have, and what children and others who may not have a smartphone will do.
Technologically the app is not complicated, but it still faces legal and political challenges. And its final development will depend on a number of cabinet decisions to give special privileges to people who have been inoculated, which is problematic from a legal standpoint.
According to one individual familiar with the matter: “There are quite a few dilemmas and legal obstacles. Let’s take a hypothetical situation: say downloading the app and presenting the ‘green passport’ is required as a condition to enter a mall; but what if there’s a pharmacy in that mall, which is an essential service. A person has a right to this service without an app. Can they be prevented from entering?”
According to the source, “the technical issues will be resolved long before the legal ones.”
The first stage of the app’s use will be a pilot program that will allow people entry to Israel’s so-called “green islands” – the Dead Sea and Eilat.
As was reported in the beginning of December, the Health Ministry has stopped using the previous app, known as Magen 2, after the majority of the Israeli public refused to download it and it failed, for other reasons as well, to fulfill its purpose of tracking and cutting the chain of infection.
The Health Ministry did not respond to a request for a comment for this report.
The Link LonkJanuary 03, 2021 at 06:24PM
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/tech-news/.premium-forget-contact-tracing-israel-s-mulls-new-digital-coronavirus-passport-1.9418720
Forget contact tracing, Israel’s new 'coronavirus passport' may save you from isolation - Haaretz.com
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