Mrs Akosua Frema Osei Opare receiving a cheque from Dr John Amaglo (2nd right), President, Ghana Institute of Surveyors, towards the Covid-19 Trust Fund, at the Jubilee House. Picture: SAMUEL TEI ADANO

Surveyors develop COVID-19 tracing app

Donald Ato Dapatem Apr - 08 - 2020 , 08:02 2 minutes read

The Ghana Institution of Surveyors has developed a computer application that can help trace suspected COVID-19 affected persons in real time.

Additionally, the application can assist with monitoring and evaluation of the disease situation in the country.

In collaboration with build environment professionals, the institute has also developed a system that will enable health authorities to easily detect densely populated areas where the disease is being spread horizontally so they can cordon off the area and create restricted entry and exit points, and construct makeshift medical facilities to treat affected people.

The President of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors, Dr John Amaglo, made this known when the institution presented a cheque for GH¢50,000 to the Chief of Staff, Mrs Akosua Frema Osei Opare, at the Jubilee House yesterday.

Dr Amaglo said the institution was collaborating with the technical team on COVID-19 and would be making a presentation on the next step towards adoption of the systems, adding that “if the systems were adopted, we should be ahead of the virus”.

Donations

Seven other organisations have also made donations of GH¢1.5m in total and $100,000 to the COVID-19 Trust Fund.

The organisations are Cimaf Cement, GH¢250,000; Keda Ghana Ceramics, GH¢500,000 plus GH¢100,000 worth of medicals items; Lele Group, GH¢100,000; A & C Mall, GH¢100,000; De Simone Ltd, GH¢50,000 in addition to medical supplies and PPE worth GH¢200,000.

The rest area CBI Ghana Limited, GHc50,000 in addition to medical supplies and PPE valued at GH¢200,000 and Joshob Construction Limited, $100,000.

Government

On behalf of the President and the people of Ghana, Mrs Osei Opare expressed her gratitude to the various companies for their contribution towards finding a lasting solution to the pandemic and to ameliorate its impact on the people.

Surveyors system

She welcomed the systems developed by the Institution of Surveyors and said the President was working hard to ensure that spread of the disease was curtailed.

She said contact tracing remained a cardinal aspect in the strategy to deal with the pandemic.

“Contact tracing was laborious and therefore the app that has been developed and any other invention would help a lot and are very welcome,” she said.