WP's Gerald Giam urges usage of Apple-Google contact tracing tool; Vivian Balakrishnan explains why we’re not

Extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary measures, and so two of the biggest tech companies in the world are actually working together to face down the global pandemic. 

Last month saw Apple and Google launching software that will allow public health authorities and governments to create or enhance mobile apps that could detect and notify users if they may have gotten into contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus. 

This "exposure notification" tool, however, isn't being used in Singapore — despite the Government Technology Agency (GovTech) having built their own contact-tracing app TraceTogether. It’s something that Workers’ Party figure and Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Gerald Giam pondered in a blog post yesterday (June 14). 

In a nutshell, the joint effort by Apple and Google allows for inter-operability between devices that run on iOS and Android. It runs on low-energy Bluetooth signals that blast out random codes in the background while also building a record of other codes that received from other tracker app users you’ve been in proximity with. It won’t pinpoint your exact locations — what’s actually being logged and archived is the contact between people (or rather, their phones). 

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When someone from that record notifies the app that he or she has been diagnosed with Covid-19, you get an alert about it. You can then go and get tested for the virus or self-isolate. 

TraceTogether works on a different protocol, Giam highlighted. The made-in-Singapore app does not work as well as it should on iPhones because iOS suspends Bluetooth scanning when the app is running in the background. What this means is that TraceTogether on iPhones can’t properly collect data from other users in proximity, thus reducing its effectiveness in contact tracing. 

Wearable devices instead

This prompted Foreign Minister and Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation Initiative Vivian Balakrishnan to recently announce that the government could move towards issuing a portable contact-tracing device to all Singapore residents. This small device — which can be slipped into bags or pockets — would allow for effective contact tracing without the use of smartphones, ensuring all Singaporeans will be protected. 

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It was recently reported that local electronics maker PCI won a bid to supply 300,000 of the TraceTogether Tokens. The contract puts PCI in line for business that could be worth over $110 million if tokens are rolled out to all 5.7 million residents as planned.

Giam, on the other hand, proposed an alternative solution: just adopt the Apple-Google system. 

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“Given that 91% of the population in Singapore uses smartphones, rolling out a working contact tracing phone app can be done much more easily and cheaply than issuing a hardware dongle to all 5.7 million residents,” he wrote.

“This will enable the app to run effectively on all smartphones, maximise adoption, protect privacy, enable cross-border interoperability and, most importantly, become a real weapon in our battle against Covid-19.” 

‘Less effective in our local context’

Not long after Giam’s blog post, Dr Balakrishnan clarified why Singapore has opted against using the Apple-Google tool for contact tracing, though he acknowledged that it’s a “good and innovative” system. 

“However, after careful consideration, we decided that it would be less effective in our local context. Although a potential close contact would be notified by the system, there would be no way to identify how, when and whom the person was infected by or passed the infection to,” he wrote in a Facebook post on June 15. 

The minister also explained that not everyone can afford a smartphone, and even so, many smartphone models can’t operate the BlueTrace, the protocol developed by GovTech that facilitates digital contact tracing. 

“In order to extend effective protection to as many people as possible, we had to consider tokens that would be simpler, more effective, more convenient and cheaper than phones,” Dr Balakrishnan explained, adding that the TraceTogether tokens will be able to interoperate with the apps on smartphones. 

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He also stated his position that ultimately, Singapore’s efforts against the coronavirus infections rely largely on human judgement. 

“Technology is only a supplement, not a replacement for humans. Our system will enable the contact tracers to identify the people, venues and activities that pose the greatest risk and enable us to take quick action to treat and isolate any potential patient. We need to entrust human contact tracers with information during this crisis,” he wrote. 

For the latest updates on the coronavirus, visit here.

ilyas@asiaone.com