Covid-19: Researchers launch app to track spread of symptoms in the UK

Mayor, Susan

doi:10.1136/bmj.m1263

Cited by 48 publications

(37 citation statements)

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“…S and UK, the COVID Symptom tracker app developed with the Coronavirus Pandemic Epidemiology Consortium (COPE) is being widely used to track COVID-related exposure and infections. [12] However, the downside of this involves access to a large number of applications, some of which can be sources of misinformation or information overload thereby creating barriers to containment and mitigation efforts. [13] Moreover, no universal guidelines exist to ensure quality of these mobile applications to a gold standard.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Systematic Review of Smartphone Applications Available for Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID19) and the Assessment of their Quality Using the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS)

et al. 2020

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The global impact of COVID-19 pandemic has led to a rapid development and utilization of mobile health applications. These are addressing the unmet needs of healthcare and public health system including contact tracing, health information dissemination, symptom checking and providing tools for training healthcare providers. Here we provide an overview of mobile applications being currently utilized for COVID-19 and their assessment using the Mobile Application Rating Scale. We performed a systematic review of the literature and mobile platforms to assess mobile applications currently utilized for COVID-19, and a quality assessment of these applications using the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS) for overall quality, Engagement, Functionality, Aesthetics, and Information. Finally, we provide an overview of the key salient features that should be included in mobile applications being developed for future use. Our search identified 63 apps that are currently being used for COVID-19. Of these, 25 were selected from the Google play store and Apple App store in India, and 19 each from the UK and US. 18 apps were developed for sharing up to date information on COVID-19, and 8 were used for contact tracing while 9 apps showed features of both. On MARS Scale, overall scores ranged from 2.4 to 4.8 with apps scoring high in areas of functionality and lower in Engagement. Future steps should involve developing and testing of mobile applications using assessment tools like the MARS scale and the study of their impact on health behaviours and outcomes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Systematic Review of Smartphone Applications Available for Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID19) and the Assessment of their Quality Using the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS)

et al. 2020

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“…From the previously mentioned results, a high-quality mobile app that can be globally used is COVID Symptom Tracker, which can be installed on both Apple and Android devices. With the aim of slowing the outbreak of the virus, a symptom tracker is useful in identifying high-risk areas in the country, the speed of viral transmission in an area, and individuals who are at the most risk in relation to their health conditions [ 36 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mobile Health Apps on COVID-19 Launched in the Early Days of the Pandemic: Content Analysis and Review

Ming¹,

Untong²,

Aliudin³

et al. 2020

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth

539

140

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Background Mobile health (mHealth) app use is a major concern because of the possible dissemination of misinformation that could harm the users. Particularly, it can be difficult for health care professionals to recommend a suitable app for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) education and self-monitoring purposes. Objective This study aims to analyze and evaluate the contents as well as features of COVID-19 mobile apps. The findings are instrumental in helping health care professionals to identify suitable mobile apps for COVID-19 self-monitoring and education. The results of the mobile apps’ assessment could potentially help mobile app developers improve or modify their existing mobile app designs to achieve optimal outcomes. Methods The search for the mHealth apps available in the android-based Play Store and the iOS-based App Store was conducted between April 18 and May 5, 2020. The region of the App Store where we performed the search was the United States, and a virtual private network app was used to locate and access COVID-19 mobile apps from all countries on the Google Play Store. The inclusion criteria were apps that are related to COVID-19 with no restriction in language type. The basic features assessment criteria used for comparison were the requirement for free subscription, internet connection, education or advisory content, size of the app, ability to export data, and automated data entry. The functionality of the apps was assessed according to knowledge (information on COVID-19), tracing or mapping of COVID-19 cases, home monitoring surveillance, online consultation with a health authority, and official apps run by health authorities. Results Of the 223 COVID-19–related mobile apps, only 30 (19.9%) found in the App Store and 28 (44.4%) in the Play Store matched the inclusion criteria. In the basic features assessment, most App Store (10/30, 33.3%) and Play Store (10/28, 35.7%) apps scored 4 out of 7 points. Meanwhile, the outcome of the functionality assessment for most App Store apps (13/30, 43.3%) was a score of 3 compared to android-based apps (10/28, 35.7%), which scored 2 (out of the maximum 5 points). Evaluation of the basic functions showed that 75.0% (n=36) of the 48 included mobile apps do not require a subscription, 56.3% (n=27) provide symptom advice, and 41.7% (n=20) have educational content. In terms of the specific functions, more than half of the included mobile apps are official mobile apps maintained by a health authority for COVID-19 information provision. Around 37.5% (n=18) and 31.3% (n=15) of the mobile apps have tracing or mapping and home monitoring surveillance functions, respectively, with only 17% (n=8) of the mobile apps equipped with an online consultation function. Conclusions Most iOS-based apps incorporate infographic mapping of COVID-19 cases, while most android-based apps incorporate home monitoring surveillance features instead of providing focused educational content on COVID-19. It is important to evaluate the contents and features of COVID-19 mobile apps to guide users in choosing a suitable mobile app based on their requirements.

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“…One of the main benefits from app design that operates as a social machine is the speed of deployment and data collection. For example, the UK 'Covid Symptom Tracker' app reached 700,000 downloads and app registrations in 24 h [46]. It is almost impossible to gather such large datasets with any of the traditional data collection tools.…”

Section: The Case Of Covid-19 In the Ukmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 what have we learned? The rise of social machines and connected devices in pandemic management following the concepts of predictive, preventive and personalized medicine

et al. 2020

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Objectives Review, compare and critically assess digital technology responses to the COVID-19 pandemic around the world. The specific point of interest in this research is on predictive, preventive and personalized interoperable digital healthcare solutions. This point is supported by failures from the past, where the separate design of digital health solutions has led to lack of interoperability. Hence, this review paper investigates the integration of predictive, preventive and personalized interoperable digital healthcare systems. The second point of interest is the use of new mass surveillance technologies to feed personal data from health professionals to governments, without any comprehensive studies that determine if such new technologies and data policies would address the pandemic crisis. Method This is a review paper. Two approaches were used: A comprehensive bibliographic review with R statistical methods of the COVID-19 pandemic in PubMed literature and Web of Science Core Collection, supported with Google Scholar search. In addition, a case study review of emerging new approaches in different regions, using medical literature, academic literature, news articles and other reliable data sources. Results Most countries' digital responses involve big data analytics, integration of national health insurance databases, tracing travel history from individual's location databases, code scanning and individual's online reporting. Public responses of mistrust about privacy data misuse differ across countries, depending on the chosen public communication strategy. We propose predictive, preventive and personalized solutions for pandemic management, based on social machines and connected devices. Solutions The proposed predictive, preventive and personalized solutions are based on the integration of IoT data, wearable device data, mobile apps data and individual data inputs from registered users, operating as a social machine with strong security and privacy protocols. We present solutions that would enable much greater speed in future responses. These solutions are enabled by the social aspect of human-computer interactions (social machines) and the increased connectivity of humans and devices (Internet of Things). Conclusion Inadequate data for risk assessment on speed and urgency of COVID-19, combined with increased globalization of human society, led to the rapid spread of COVID-19. Despite an abundance of digital methods that could be used in slowing or stopping COVID-19 and future pandemics, the world remains unprepared, and lessons have not been learned from previous cases of pandemics. We present a summary of predictive, preventive and personalized digital methods that could be deployed fast to help with the COVID-19 and future pandemics.

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Covid-19: Researchers launch app to track spread of symptoms in the UK

Abstract: Nearly 700 000 people signed up in the first 24 hours of the launch of an app to help track the spread of coronavirus across the UK in real time and collect information on the range of self-reported symptoms and the characteristics of those most at risk.

Cited by 48 publications

References 1 publication

A Systematic Review of Smartphone Applications Available for Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID19) and the Assessment of their Quality Using the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS)

A Systematic Review of Smartphone Applications Available for Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID19) and the Assessment of their Quality Using the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS)

Mobile Health Apps on COVID-19 Launched in the Early Days of the Pandemic: Content Analysis and Review

COVID-19 what have we learned? The rise of social machines and connected devices in pandemic management following the concepts of predictive, preventive and personalized medicine

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