COVID-19 Tracker: John Boadu lauds Ghana's response team for brilliant initiative

General Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), John Boadu, has lauded Ghana’s COVID-19 Response Team for the introduction of COVID-19 Tracker App.

The COVID-19 Tracker has been launched to trace contacts of persons infected by the virus, in actual time.

The app will use telephone data and other relevant avenues to do the contact tracing as well as track persons who have been to COVID-19 affected countries and also verify whether persons under quarantine due to the virus infection are adhering to directives.

According to the Minister of Communication, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the app has been downloaded 16,000 times in less than 24 hours after it was launched on Monday, April 13, 2020.

She further disclosed that about 100 reports of symptoms related to the virus have been made through the app.

“We are interested in tracking the virus in our country and so it is specifically designed to be used in Ghana," she noted, adding that the app is available on android smartphones and that persons not using android could dial *769# to access the app.

Speaking in an interview on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' program on Wednesday, John Boadu commended the team over the initiative saying a similar app has been developed in Dubai to track persons and their activities during the pandemic.

He recounted that the tracking app in Dubai delivers real time activities of the users by tracking their location and what they go out to do.

"Apart from the permit, it will determine where you are going, your location, whether what you want to do is permissible, the time for permission, and so if the time elapses, your app will shut down," he explained.

He said sanctions are meted out to persons found going beyond the permit and time given them on the app.

John Boadu was optimistic the COVID-19 tracker app will help in the country's fight against the virus.

He called on the nation to "support government to enforce the measures put in place in order to help contain the pandemic".