Effectiveness modelling of digital contact-tracing solutions for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic

Shubina, V., Ometov, A., Basiri, A. and Lohan, E. S. (2021) Effectiveness modelling of digital contact-tracing solutions for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Navigation, 74(4), pp. 853-886. (doi: 10.1017/S0373463321000175)

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Abstract

Since the beginning of the coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic, digital contact-tracing applications (apps) have been at the centre of attention as a digital tool to enable citizens to monitor their social distancing, which appears to be one of the leading practices for mitigating the spread of airborne infectious diseases. Many countries have been working towards developing suitable digital contact-tracing apps to allow the measurement of the physical distance between citizens and to alert them when contact with an infected individual has occurred. However, the adoption of digital contact-tracing apps has faced several challenges so far, including interoperability between mobile devices and users’ privacy concerns. There is a need to reach a trade-off between the achievable technical performance of new technology, false-positive rates, and social and behavioural factors. This paper reviews a wide range of factors and classifies them into three categories of technical, epidemiological and social ones, and incorporates these into a compact mathematical model. The paper evaluates the effectiveness of digital contact-tracing apps based on received signal strength measurements. The results highlight the limitations, potential and challenges of the adoption of digital contact-tracing apps.

Item Type:Articles
Keywords:Contact tracing, COVID-19, infection risk, effectiveness modelling, mobile devices, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), proximity detection.
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Basiri, Professor Ana
Authors: Shubina, V., Ometov, A., Basiri, A., and Lohan, E. S.
Subjects:R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA1001 Forensic Medicine. Medical jurisprudence. Legal medicine
R Medicine > RZ Other systems of medicine
T Technology > TK Electrical engineering. Electronics Nuclear engineering
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Geographical and Earth Sciences
Journal Name:Journal of Navigation
Publisher:Cambridge University Press
ISSN:0373-4633
ISSN (Online):1469-7785
Published Online:17 February 2021
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2021 The Royal Institute of Navigation
First Published:First published in Journal of Navigation 74(4): 853-886
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

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Project CodeAward NoProject NamePrincipal InvestigatorFunder's NameFunder RefLead Dept
312992Indicative Data: Extracting 3D Models of Cities from Unavailability and Degradation of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS)Ana BasiriUK Research and Innovation ( UKRI) (UKRI)MR/S01795X/2GES - Geography