Use of staysafe.ph app now a must for LGUs, nat’l agencies

The government panel handling the country’s pandemic response has made use of the staysafe.ph contact-tracing application mandatory for national government agencies and local government units, and said all data collected through digital applications would be sent to a centralized hub.

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), in its Resolution No. 85, also said the staysafe.ph application would be promoted for use in all private establishments, and those with existing contact-tracing applications are asked to integrate their systems with the existing staysafe.ph system.

Staysafe.ph is the “government’s digital contact-tracing application of choice,” the resolution stated.

Last month, the Department of Transportation said it was planning to use its own digital contact-tracing app called Traze beginning Nov. 28, even if the government is endorsing the use of the staysafe.ph app.

Experts had expressed concern about the privacy of data collected through the staysafe.ph application, which was developed by private company Multisys Technologies Corp.

But government officials said there were enough safeguards to prevent the abuse and misuse of the collected data.

The IATF also said in its latest resolution that data collected through digital contact-tracing applications should conform to specific minimum data requirement.

All data collected through digital contact-tracing applications used by Department of Health-accredited COVID-19 health facilities, temporary treatment and monitoring facilities, hospitals, establishments, workplaces, transportation vehicles and hubs, and local governments would be sent to a centralized tracing data repository, for integration and linkage with appropriate laboratory results.

The repository will be linked to either COVID-Kaya or the COVID-19 Document Repository System, according to the IATF.

It directed its subtechnical working group on information and communications technology to formulate guidelines to integrate digital contact-tracing applications for seamless linking and sharing of data and results.

It also formed the Data Resiliency for Ease of Access and Management Team to deploy, build the capacity and monitor the use of ICT (information and communications technology) solutions that are part of the official COVID-19 ICT system.