Responding to COVID-19 With Tech
The Government has progressively built up the digital infrastructure and engineering capabilities as the foundation of our Smart Nation. These enable us to respond decisively and swiftly to the COVID-19 outbreak with a suite of digital tools to help disseminate timely and accurate information to Singaporeans, and to enable our fellow agencies to better manage the crisis.
Ask Jamie chatbot
Developed by GovTech, Ask Jamie is a virtual assistant designed to answer queries within specific domains on Government agency websites. Launched in 2014, Ask Jamie has been implemented across 70 Government agency websites.
Since 1 February 2020, the chatbot has been enhanced to address queries related to COVID-19, and uses machine learning to improve accuracy of the replies, and data analytics to detect trending topics.
In addition to the Gov.sg and Ministry of Health websites, citizens are also able to access the chatbot via Facebook Messenger and Telegram:
COVID-19 Chat for Biz
This chatbot addresses questions from businesses related to COVID-19, including information on measures to help businesses in Budget 2020.
Businesses can access the chatbot at www.go.gov.sg/businessconnect. The chatbot is developed by GovTech in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI).
COVID-19 GoBusiness portal
Together with Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Manpower, we have launched the Covid GoBusiness portal to support the application, approval and management process for businesses applying for essential worker permits, and to assist officers with enforcement and identification of such workers. More at: Covid.gobusiness.gov.sg.
COVID-19 Situation Report
The COVID-19 Situation Report dashboard presents the key statistics and figures on the current situation in Singapore. The solution is developed by GovTech in collaboration with the Ministry of Health.
To learn more, visit https://covidsitrep.moh.gov.sg
FluGoWhere
FluGoWhere is a website to conveniently and easily search through a list of Public Health Preparedness Clinics (PHPCs) providing special subsidies for those diagnosed with respiratory illnesses. There are more than 900 participating clinics as of 19 March 2020.
Citizens can access the website via www.FluGoWhere.gov.sg.
The website is developed by GovTech in collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Public Health Preparedness Clinics.
Gov.sg WhatsApp
The official Gov.sg WhatsApp account provides citizens with timely and trusted updates on the COVID-19 situation. This service is available in 4 languages, and the system has been optimised to send multi-lingual messages to all subscribers within 30 minutes.
Citizens can subscribe to updates by registering at www.go.gov.sg/Whatsapp.
MaskGoWhere
MaskGoWhere is a website that helps Singaporean households find the designated location, day and time to collect their allocation of masks. GovTech engineers have been making progressive updates and improvements to the website based on the latest available information and insights gathered through real-time user feedback function embedded within the website.
Citizens can access the website via www.MaskGoWhere.gov.sg.
The website is developed by the Government Technology Agency (GovTech) in collaboration with several Government agencies including the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI), Ministry of Health (MOH) and People’s Association (PA).
(The mask collection exercise has concluded as of 29 February 2020.)
Leave of Absence & Stay-Home Notice Tracking Solution
The Leave of Absence & Stay-Home Notice Tracking Solution is a SMS and mobile web-based solution that allows people serving out their Leave of Absence (LOA) or Stay-Home Notice (SHN) to report their locations to the Ministry of Manpower quickly and accurately.
The solution is developed by GovTech.
SafeEntry
Developed by GovTech, SafeEntry is a national digital check-in system that logs the name, NRIC and mobile number of individuals visiting hotspots and venues providing essential services, as well as the information of people working at places providing essential services.
SafeEntry is used for contact tracing and data verification through (1) scanning of QR codes or (2) scanning of NRIC at hotspots and high traffic locations. Businesses who are interested to use SafeEntry with QR scanning can refer to www.go.gov.sg/safeentry for the automated self-registration process.
Self-help Temperature Scanner
As organisations implement temperature scanning as a COVID-19 safeguard prior to entry to buildings/offices, GovTech developed a self-help temperature scanner using existing contactless off-the-shelf battery-operated infrared thermometer and other off-the-shelf materials. The thermometer is retrofitted with a motion-sensing camera and a power source to enable it to do a temperature scan without human intervention. This system is being progressively deployed to Government Buildings and community facilities.
TraceTogether
TraceTogether is a mobile app that supports Singapore’s efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 through community-driven contact tracing.
Through the exchange of short-distance Bluetooth signals between mobile phones with the installed app, each phone can detect other participating TraceTogether phones that are in close proximity. The app estimates the distance between users, and the duration of such encounters. Records of these encounters are stored locally, in encrypted form, on each user’s phone for 21 days (covering the incubation period of the virus).
If a user is interviewed by a contact tracer for activity mapping, he can authorise the uploading of his TraceTogether data to Ministry of Health (MOH). MOH will then decipher the data and get the mobile numbers of the user’s close contacts within a period of time. This facilitates the contact tracing process, and enables contact tracers to inform close contacts of confirmed cases more expeditiously.
To learn more about the app, visit www.TraceTogether.gov.sg The app is developed by the GovTech and MOH.
VigilantGantry
Developed by GovTech, VigilantGantry is an AI-driven automated temperature screening gantry that augments existing thermal systems to enhance the rate of contactless screening, saving time and manpower.
An alert will sound once the system has detected an abnormal temperature. This is especially useful for high traffic volume sites and detection of symptomatic cases. VigilantGantry is modular and can be easily integrated with off-the-shelf electronics, existing thermal systems and mobile optical cameras. If required, the solution is also able to interface with facial recognition solutions for contact tracing.
A trial at the National University of Singapore (NUS) showed significant improvements to the temperature screening process, with an average of 2 seconds of waiting time per visitor. This is an improvement from the previous temperature screening process involving the use of hand-held thermometers, which can take up to 1 minute per visitor. GovTech plans to open-source VigilantGantry’s source codes for the industry to scale and deploy to different sites across Singapore.
https://www.tech.gov.sg/products-and-services/responding-to-covid-19-with-tech/