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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider Gov't reviews digital products and services used in COVID-19 response

Gov't reviews digital products and services used in COVID-19 response

Published Jul 5, 2020 08:36 pm

The government has started to review the use of certain digital products and services used in the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) response to address privacy and security concerns.

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte( JOEY DALUMPINES/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO/MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)

The latest review of these new COVID-19 related technological products and applications also aims to ensure the interoperability of these systems, President Rodrigo Duterte said in his recent report to Congress. 

"The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) Sub-Technical Working Group on Information and Communications Technology Solutions led by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is reviewing the use of COVID-19 technologies," the President said. Duterte said the DICT has issued a circular that aims to "ensure that information and communication technology services, products and applications meet relevant requirements, specifications, and the unique needs of the end-user government agency or instrumentality, while addressing potential concerns on data privacy, cybersecurity and interoperability, among others."

He was referring to the DICT Circular No. 009 on "Guidelines for Departmental Vetting and Evaluation Proposals for ICT Services, Products and Applications for Government Use in Addressing COVID-19 Situation."

Under the guidelines, the proponent developer or provider must send a formal letter to DICT about its proposal and submit necessary requirements for evaluation. The process may be suspended or terminated if the proponent failed to submit the requirements within a reasonable period.

The proposed ICT services, products, and applications for COVID-19 response must follow "best practices and standards" on ICT service management, project management, enterprise architecture, cybersecurity, and data privacy.

An appropriate agreement will be signed to operationalize the donation or other arrangement to make the ICT solution available for government use.

On the contact tracing application called StaySafe, Duterte said the application will now only use bluetooth digital contact tracing of Google and Apple to monitor confirmed, suspect, and probable coronavirus patients. 

Its function will be limited to data collection to be stored in the Department of Healths (DOH)' COVID Kaya Information System.  COVID Kaya is a case and contact tracing reporting system developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and DOH Epidemiology Bureau for health workers.

According to the President, MultiSys Technologies Corporation was given 30 days to comply with the IATF''s additional requirements related to the donation of the application to the DOH, limiting the application's function to data collection and trimming down features of the application to make it less privacy invasive to the user, otherwise the endorsement of StaySafe.PH as the official contact tracing app will be withdrawn.

So far, Duterte said around 240 local government units have been using the StaySafe app, while others report their COVID-19 data directly to the DOH.

He said the health department aims to have 3,000 personnel trained on COVID Kaya for 1,733 provincial, city, and municipal health offices and 996 hospitals.  As of June 26, 2,758 personnel had undergone training on this digital service. 

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