Rapid case detection, contact tracing, and appropriate quarantine are key public health measures for the prevention and control of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka. In order to efficiently implement these activities, timely and consolidated information is crucial. Accordingly, a team of experts, including technical teams from the Epidemiology Unit of the Western Provincial Ministry of Health and WHO Sri Lanka, worked together to provide a digital solution – a real-time web-based information dashboard and mobile application called Suwapetha.
This app supports healthcare professionals provide effective case management and empowers the general public by providing updated information on the COVID-19 situation based on geo locations using data from the laboratory system and national and provincial health authorities.
The application, available free of charge, provides the following:
- Issue location-based alert messages. These alerts are sent if there is an active COVID-19 case within 500m of the user, based on geolocation.
- The user can review any location in the country by either typing in an address or using the touch screen to select an area on the map. This is particularly helpful for healthcare professionals who will be better informed of the possibility of exposure amongst patients seeking treatment.
- The contact details of the local Public Health Authorities (MOH and PHI details and the details of the Grama Niladhari area)
- The location of and directions to the nearest hospital and the nearest pharmacy, at any given location.
- Easy access to receive support from the 24/7 call center at the Western Province epidemiology unit, 1990, and 1999 through the application.