KUAP: NCKU’s Comprehensive Mobile Phone Application for COVID-19 Prevention
Written by and image credit to NCKU News Center.
NCKU develops the mobile phone application KUAP (NCKU Announcement Platform)
As September rolls around, the start of the new semester draws near. The traffic and movement brought about by students returning to school creates new risks for cluster infections. Ensuring the safety of university campuses is an important and urgent issue.
“KUAP, NCKU Can Help!” The mobile phone application KUAP (NCKU Announcement Platform) is developed by National Cheng Kung University using top smart technology, demonstrating to the world a Taiwan-version of an all-round pandemic prevention application. The KUAP utilizes big-data analysis to conduct risk assessment based on the user’s footprints records and daily body temperature and symptom records. The system is also connected with the QR code screenings at the hospitals, PCR test results, rapid screening results, and vaccination records. This allows for comprehensive protection of the user’s health and safety during the pandemic. NCKU openly shares this application with the public.
Through practical actions of building the KUAP, the comprehensive COVID-19 prevention application, NCKU proves that Taiwan is a capable figure in this fight against COVID-19. This system is the product of collective professional knowledge and can efficiently help Taiwan in COVID-19 prevention and enhance the safety on university campuses. With smart technology, the system effectively keeps track of the user’s contact history and test results, constructing one’s own health passport and securing the safety net of campus life. The KUAP can also double as personal ID for campus, students and faculty can show the health record from the application as a proof. “Combining ID and health information in the phone, the KUAP can be used as a pass when entering the campus.”
President Su says it is NCKU’s responsibility to contribute to Taiwan’s smart technology in pandemic prevention
Huey-Jen Jenny Su, President of NCKU, expressed that NCKU is proud to be able to share its professionalism and knowledge, assuming its role as an intellectual member of society to face and take on the challenge. NCKU strives to fulfill its university social responsibility through this joint effort from experts in public health, infection control, medical care, and information technology.
Led by NCKU President Huey-Jen Su, the team behind the application KUAP comes from backgrounds including public health, medical care, information technology, and data analysis. The main point of this application lies in the way it integrates multiple systems related to epidemic prevention so that the user can conveniently access different functions including daily body temperature and symptom records tracking, campus entry control, health questionnaire for holidays, QR code screening at the hospitals, and campus footprint tracking QR code. What’s more, it also allows different users to scan each other’s personal QR code to keep better documentation on contact history. It also has a section where the user can upload their PCR test results, rapid screening results, and vaccination records. In comparison with the currently existing epidemic prevention applications, the KUAP is a comprehensive application that integrates different functions and even includes a risk assessment function, improving the issues where different policies are not interconnected.
It took the NCKU team five months to develop the application. The team built a risk assessment system that conducts its analysis based on the user’s footprints records and daily body temperature and symptom records. The risk assessment results are categorized into green, blue, yellow, orange, purple, and red lights. The KUAP can quickly evaluate the risk of infection for a user and can speedily let the university grasp their health conditions. While the green light allows the user a pass onto the campus, the other signals come with appropriate advice to assist the user. As the user receives proper protection, the university also has medical professionals checking up on the users in need of care in order to provide the most comprehensive medical care.
Ching-Chang Lee, Executive Vice President of NCKU, introduces the functions of the application
According to the British Medical Journal, public health and medical experts in the U.S.A. have pointed out that the key to curb infection spread on campus is through effective footprint tracking, on-campus testing, quarantine, and support. In a community where the vaccine coverage remains lower than 90%, people are to continue wearing masks, take routine tests, and keeping social distance to keep everyone safe on campus. Since last year, NCKU has utilized a series of smart technology systems to keep track of contact history and test results to conduct risk assessment for each person in order to provide comprehensive medical care. This year, the university developed the mobile phone application KUAP to quickly grasp the health conditions of its faculty and students, constructing a safety network for campus life and living space.
Regarding the resumption of the 2021 National Intercollegiate Athletics Games in October, NCKU plans to incorporate the KUAP into the event in order to protect all the involved parties. The university aims to lower risks of infection with the help of the pass backed by smart technology. It is NCKU’s responsibility to contribute to Taiwan’s smart technology in pandemic prevention, according to Huey-Jen Su. Taiwan is capable of utilizing interdisciplinary resources by integrating prospective infection control teams, a strong public health system, and innovative information engineering designs. With expertise and knowledge, NCKU shows the world that “NCKU can help!”
The KUAP shows NCKU’s efforts in building a comprehensive application for COVID-19 prevention
Provider:
News Center
Date:
2021-09-01
