Cheetay, in partnership with the Punjab IT Board (PITB) and Conrad Labs, has launched CoCare, a public-private partnership mandated to combat COVID-19 in Pakistan.
CoCare, a multi-functional COVID-19 contact tracing app, will visualize data on the spread of the pandemic in Pakistan, share educational resources on Coronavirus symptoms and preventative guidelines, have an integrated self-diagnostic tool, and will enable access to essential stay-at-home services like testing, medicine delivery, and telehealth.
The app will have both an English and Urdu version and will be free.
CoCare securely and anonymously logs physical proximity between mobile phones using Bluetooth technology to trace possible exposure to the virus. Once people anonymously self-report if they have tested positive for the virus, individuals who have been in contact with them are alerted to the potential exposure and advised to look out for symptoms or get tested.
The CoCare app will also allow individuals to actively keep records of contacts or location visits through QR codes; functionality that will be essential for employers and businesses to safely reopen the economy.
“By now we have all come to the realization that we are neither immune nor safe from the Coronavirus. However, given our country’s limited resources, we can’t afford long and chaotic economic lockdowns,” said Majid Khan, CEO of Cheetay.
Contact tracing, rapid and accurate testing, social distancing along with smart mitigation and suppression techniques are the best tools we have to combat the pandemic. CoCare is designed to address this challenge in an organized, creative, and intelligent way of using technology.
As offices around the country are trying to reopen, companies have been concerned about how to effectively limit their employees’ exposure to the virus. “PITB will be recommending that all government institutions and offices adopt the CoCare protocols. We are proud to be spearheading the CoCare public-private initiative. The technology we are creating will be invaluable in ensuring that we can safely reopen our economy,” said PITB Chairman Azfar Manzoor.
Capt (R) Muhammad Mahmood, Commissioner Rawalpindi, the first Government official to recognize the need for such an initiative and endorse CoCare said,
We are now in the thick of the fight, and we’re losing. We need to find intelligent and practical solutions like CoCare to safely navigate through to a new normal. CoCare is by no means a stand-alone panacea but it is a huge step in the right direction.
The Country Director of 47 Ventures, Khurram Zafar who is a strong advocate of public-private initiatives said,
If there ever was a time to step up, to collaborate, to contribute, and put our collective national interest above our own, it is NOW! I am glad Cheetay is leading from the front and reaching out to others who can contribute. That is how we fight this fight and how we win! I am glad to be a small part of this very vital effort.
Abbas Yousafzai, co-founder of Conrad Labs, who helped design the app commented,
CoCare has been developed to a global standard. It is a testament to Pakistan’s rapidly growing tech capabilities that the app was created in record time by some of our best local engineering talents. This is something we can all be proud of. We are using advanced algorithms and best-in-class technology to implement a contact tracing protocol that is very sensitive to privacy protections and maintains the highest levels of anonymity and security.
A number of organizations have provided support for CoCare, including PITB, Conrad Labs, 47 Ventures, Oladoc, Eocean, Sehat Kahani, Eikon 7, ProPakistani, NIC Lahore (Faisal Sherjan), Chughtai Lab, Shaukat Khanum, Healthwire, Rizq, Robinhood Army.
Download the app here.
Information about the app is available at www.cocareapp.com.
