The Government is developing and will “soon” roll out a portable and wearable contact tracing device, Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation initiative Vivian Balakrishnan told Parliament on Friday (Jun 5).
“If this portable device works, we may then distribute it to everyone in Singapore,” he said. “And I believe this will be more inclusive, and it will ensure that all of us will be protected.”
Dr Balakrishnan was responding to a question by Member of Parliament for Sembawang GRC Vikram Nair, who had asked if there were plans to make it mandatory for people to download the TraceTogether contact tracing app.
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The app sends Bluetooth signals to each other when in close proximity, making it easier for authorities to conduct contact tracing when a user tests positive for COVID-19.
A total of 1.5 million users have downloaded the app, about one-fifth of Singapore’s population. Dr Balakrishnan called this figure “encouraging”, given that downloading the app is voluntary.
However, Dr Balakrishnan said the Government has decided not to make the download of TraceTogether compulsory as it does not work equally well across different smartphone operating systems.
Apple’s iOS suspends Bluetooth scanning when the app is running in the background, meaning users have to leave it in the foreground, without using other apps.
“We’ve had repeated discussions at both the technical and policy level with Apple, but we have not yet been able to find a satisfactory solution,” Dr Balakrishnan said.
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