PRASHILA DEVI
It is the collective responsibility of every Fijian, including the businesses that Fiji’s COVID-19 contained status is sustained and to do that, it is vital that the “careFIJI” Mobile Application is downloaded by everyone.
This was the succinct message by the Attorney-General, Minister for Economy, Civil Service and Communications, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, while addressing the Fiji-New Zealand, New Zealand-Fiji, Fiji-Australia, Australia-Fiji Business Councils Post Budget Forum at the Holiday Inn in Suva recently.
While speaking to the members the A-G discussed the importance of having the careFIJI app on. He stated that the app simply records close contact information between mobile devices that have the app active. This information is then stored on a 28 day rolling cycle. He further stated that the app has been downloaded approximately 50, 000 times and taking into account our population of 630, 000 who are above the age of 18, this is not even 10 per cent. “If we are able to go to Australia and New Zealand, if we are able to say to them “look guys, 30 – 40 per cent of our population actually have downloaded the app.
“It gives us a lot of credibility when we stand up and say let’s open up the Travel Bubble and it also gives a lot of confidence to the people who want to travel to Fiji” He also dispelled certain misconceptions regarding the information that the App captures and explained that the only personal information recorded is the mobile number.
“So for example, if I get COVID-19 then they will give me an access code and then I input the pin number myself, then all of your phone numbers will go directly to the Ministry of Health dashboard.” The A-G explained that after receiving the mobile numbers Ministry of Health and Medical Services officials will then contact the individuals and advise them on the next cause of action which will ensure that the chances of community transmission is reduced. He added that similar Apps in countries like Australia have seen relatively high downloads, which is 40 per cent of the population.