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Fighting COVID-19
Providing an alive, alert, and aware response to the pandemic.
V!ralert: Virtual Assistant
Problem: Patients didn't submit information regarding their contacts because they were afraid that contact-tracers would leak certain secrets to third parties and thus, the greater community would learn about their private activities. Moreover, because many stakeholders were not able to be reached for a long period of time, contact tracers were not able to reach all patients before they could be potentially infecting other people.
Hypothesis: If people don't convey their personal information to a human, but tell it to a bot instead, they won't have to worry about gossips and leaked secrets. Moreover, if the AI has the ability to speak to multiple patients at a time, it won't be a problem to find all possible infections before the window of infection has passed.
The Health Bot takes the role of the contact tracing staff that is in charge to find and get in touch with the positive COVID-19 cases and their contacts. The fundamental difference is its approach to patients and acceptance of the privacy protocol.
The virtual assistant is Artificial Intelligence that will be incorporated in the system of the Ministry of Health and the contact tracing services in the hospitals. Because of its special ability to speak with more patients at the same time, doctors can identify and put a greater number of COVID-19 positive cases in quarantine or self-isolation in a much shorter period.
Virtual Assistant for contacts of positive cases
Virtual Assistant for positive COVID-19 cases
1st Model Bracelet | Viralert
DP-3t Bracelet Video | Viralert
DP-3T System
Problem: According to a study commissioned by the security software vendor Avira, 71% of the population resists using COVID-19 contact-tracing apps, due to potential privacy and security issues. More than half (58%) of the public surveyed about the NHSX COVID-19 tracing app do not trust the government to keep their information safe from hackers. People are afraid that these apps will allow cyber-attacks on their Google Pay ( including other payment programs), Smart-Home Applications, and other software using their personal information, etc. On the other hand, elderly people do not know how to use an electronic device.
Hypothesis: If the service which assists people to see with whom they came in touch with is not connected through a base of information (e.g. the mobile phone), citizens won't be fear their info getting stolen.
The DP-3T System (which stands for Decentralized Privacy-Preserving Proximity-Tracing system) is a proximity tracing protocol that is developed to identify and alert COVID-19 patients in a more efficient and speedy manner than the traditional interviews. As more and more people are alerted about the fact they were exposed to the virus, they will self-quarantine and soon the curve will flatten. Using the DP-3T System we've created two types of bracelets, showcased below.
COVID-19 Database
Problem: Even though many patients were supposed to be in self-isolation or quarantine, they continued to perform their day-to-day activities. Many citizens who were COVID-19 positive or had close contact with a positive patient, continue to go to their workplaces, shopping malls, grocery stores, public transport and thus, put public health in complete danger.
Hypothesis: If a person had all their needs satisfied, they wouldn't have the need to break the law.
The Database represents the storage of the preliminary information taken from the conversations between the bot and the case/contact of a case. To ensure complete privacy and prevent errors, all the info is contained under a code made out of the date, hour, and place when and where the patient/contact was identified . To make sure that the patients don't suffer through their time spent in self-isolation, the slot contains info on whether or not the patient needs assistance: financial, shopping for groceries, and taking care of a child/elder. When all data were stored and analyzed, each volunteer was assigned to support three 'infected' households.
Grocery Database | V!ralert