Singapore AI Solutions Company, SQREEM Technologies, has joined the global fight against COVID-19 with the launch of “Channel SQREEM,” a real-time contact tracing and communication system which is immediately available for government agencies.

Channel SQREEM was built to assist governments with AI-driven contact tracing and direct engagement with people who are potentially at risk of having contracted COVID-19.

Initially, the company has been using AI technology to track behavior in the digital advertising world for clients like GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, and Mercedes. The firm also provides market analysis, insights, and intelligence for some of the world’s largest companies along with other retail bank institutions and government agencies.

In an effort to help stop the virus, SQREEM redesigned, recoded the technology and developed it into a real-time contact tracing and communication system.

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“In order for citizens across the world to return to normal life, a reliable COVID-19 tracking system needs to be in place to ensure communities remain safe and protected,” said Ian Chapman-Banks, co-founder and CEO of SQREEM. “The system needs to be accurate, nationwide, and at the same time, in no way infringe on individual privacy.”

Proximity locator

The SQREEM COVID Tracing platform functions as a proximity locator that does not infringe on an individual’s privacy as it does not require users to download an application on their devices. Data on the platform is handled strictly by the government agencies, while SQREEM works as the platform provider and does not, at any point, have access to the data.

Once a person is found to have tested positive for COVID-19, the health authorities will locate the whereabouts of the individual through the Channel SQREEM platform, which would apply AI and machine learning models to automatically determine how many other devices had meaningful risky contact with the carrier over the past 14 days.

Each one of these at-risk devices is identified and located utilizing the SQREEM AI engine. The country’s health authorities are then able to send targeted messages to each device, without having to identify the device owner, their phone number, or their personal information.

Telco

The implementation could include calls to action such as asking people to contact the authorities for further instructions. Health messages can also be delivered in a variety of ways: through ads placed on the next website visited on the device or ads on social media platforms like Facebook, or other apps the person already uses.

The message can also be delivered to a cluster within proximity rather than to an individual.

If the need arises, the government agency may work with authorized telecommunications companies to match the device ID to a nationally registered phone number to call or SMS the owner of the device directly and privately but this is a matter for a government decision.

Channel SQREEM complies with stringent privacy requirements and does not handle any data. The platform is strictly managed by authorized government personnel.