https://www.timesofisrael.com/health-ministry-launches-revamped-covid-19-tracking-app/1 Aug 2020 15:28
https://www.timesofisrael.com/health-ministry-launches-revamped-covid-19-tracking-app/
would be interesting if STAR could knock out a GPS based tracing app, they could do it.
Health Ministry launches revamped COVID-19 tracking app
First version of HaMagen app was marred by mistakes; new features include use of Bluetooth, which is said to improve accuracy. The Health Ministry announced a new version of its contact tracing app on Monday, promising an array of new features, which it said would help boost its accuracy.
A key tool in containing the spread is epidemiological, or contact, tracing — investigations that seek to identify and send into self-quarantine all those who may have been exposed to patients in the days before they were diagnosed, hopefully cutting off the spread. The first version of HaMagen (The Shield), which was released in March, worked by tracking its users via their phones’ built-in GPS, and correlating their location history (which was stored locally on the phone, rather than shared with the government, so as to alleviate privacy concerns) with the epidemiological data of known COVID-19 cases. Speaking with The Times of Israel in April on the original version, Health Ministry Chief Information Officer Rona Keiser acknowledged that GPS had its drawbacks, stating that the ministry was working on a new revision of the app incorporating Bluetooth technology.
An app using both GPS and Bluetooth would be “much more accurate,” she said.