New app makes COVID-19 screening and tracing quick and easy
With schools reopening across the country, a team of engineers from North-West University (NWU) have been hard at work to make this process as safe as possible for learners and teachers – while minimising the time and effort required.
Led by Prof. Leenta Grobler and Dr Henri-Jean Marais from NWU's Faculty of Engineering, the team developed a mobile application to assist with quick and effective screening of learners for COVID-19. Named "Tjop Tjop", the app collects and stores the key health information of learners, teachers and support staff without the need for any paperwork.
The NWU team were named the winners of the COVID-19 Innovation Challenge that was held alongside the virtual Africa Innovation and Investment Forum 2020, which ran from 15 to 19 June.
The Challenge showcased technologies and innovations from across Africa, explored investment and market needs, and identified business opportunities in areas such as affordable rapid testing, enhanced medical devices, and personal protective equipment design and fabrication.
The Forum was organised by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
Health screening measures have been imposed on schools and businesses as they reopen to enable the tracking and tracing of learners, teachers and staff who might have come into contact with people infected with the coronavirus. As Prof. Grobler explains, these measures are time-consuming and laborious, requiring paperwork and causing considerable congestion at entry points to schools and businesses.
This is where Tjop Tjop comes in. It works on any Android phone and can scan barcoded IDs. As most learners do not have these, they are issued with quick response (QR) codes. QR codes are machine-scannable images that work in the same way as barcodes at a supermarket, allowing for instant reading by means of a smartphone camera.
Once a learner has been scanned using the app, the information is submitted to a database. This makes reporting and storage of information significantly quicker and easier, and lowers the chances of human error creeping in.
All the information that is gathered can be downloaded from a website in comma-separated values (CSV) format. CSV files are delimited text files that use a comma to separate values used for reporting purposes.
The app will alert the management of a school or business when a learner or staff member's temperature is above the threshold for COVID-19.
Prof. Grobler says the application is now commercially available, having been piloted and rolled out in 13 schools across all nine provinces, as well as one school in Namibia and two businesses. The schools include Alberton High School, Woel en Werskaf Pre-Primary and Laerskool Mooirivier in Potchefstroom, Little Legends Daycare and Aftercare in Port Elizabeth, and Laerskool Walvisbaai in Namibia. The two businesses are BKD Auditors in Potchefstroom and Mugg & Bean Table Bay Mall in Cape Town.
According to Prof. Grobler, the application has been well received. "Teachers are very pleased with how the app enables them to focus on learning instead of screening," she said.
The system is ideal for educational institutions, businesses and government departments. "Health authorities will love this. It makes tracking, tracing and monitoring COVID-19 so much easier," Prof. Grobler added.
"We are currently in talks with a number of value-added resellers to provide access to this screening and tracing solution to as many people as possible," she said. "Next, we need to formalise a business and establish a back office and sales network, to effectively and quickly market and roll out this offering internationally."
