SINGAPORE (AP) — Singapore plans to soon launch a wearable device to trace contact with the novel coronavirus that, if successful, will be distributed to its 5. 7 million people, he said Friday.
The city-state has already developed the first-of-its-kind smartphone app to identify and alert people who have interacted with novel coronavirus carriers, but the bluetooth technology has been beset with glitches and the app is not widely used.
“We are on the way and will soon roll out a wearable device that will feature a smartphone,” External Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan told Parliament on Friday.
“If this wearable works, then we can distribute it to everyone in Singapore. . . It will be more inclusive and we will all be protected. “
The device being developed can be worn on a lanyard or kept in a handbag and will be battery-operated, Balakrishnan said last month in an interview with Sky News Australia.
(Reporting by John Geddie; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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