The reason behind this is the increasing number of governments around the world that endorse and even, in specific circumstances, oblige citizens to install a COVID-19 tracking app. 

At least 20 countries/territories are rolling out electronic tracking measures to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, including Australia, China, Norway, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia.

The concerns over these apps are twofold. In the short run, there are fears of mass surveillance and data storage security. In the long run, there are worries about misuse of the information collected, especially if the government subcontracts the creation of the app and data storage to a third party without sufficient legislation in place.

Efforts to contain the spread of the virus can of course be done manually by tracking the interaction of people who test positive, asking with whom they have interacted in the past 14 days or more. But the results will greatly depend on the extent of people’s memory. Moreover, getting the phone numbers of people interacting with COVID-19 patients and calling them one by one to suggest self-quarantine would be tedious and time-consuming.

For efficiency, therefore, tracking technology is used to collect data and prompt alerts. Using mobile technology to track COVID-19 is cheaper and scalable, provided most of the population already has access to the internet and smartphones. Good data collection and utilization can help health scientists lower disease transmissions and support officials to create better policies, as well as allocate resources like ventilators and test kits.

Contract tracing apps for COVID-19 commonly use Bluetooth and a global positioning system (GPS), which have been popular among digital natives born post-1990 after the internet was invented. They number 360 million across the world and about 40 million in Indonesia.

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