The Department of Health of the Government of Catalonia has made a Monitoring and tracing test for Coronavirus SARS CoV-2 symptoms available to its citizens, in order to effectively monitor those with COVID-19 symptoms or those that have been in contact with someone diagnosed with the virus.
The test is available through two digital tools:
• A mobile phone app called STOP COVID19 APP (available for both Android and IOS), accessible through the different app markets.
• A web-based Chatbot called COVID19Xat, accessible through the official website of the Catalan Health Service (CatSalut). This Chatbot is different to customary Chatbot mechanisms as it is able to register the results of the interaction with users. The reason for making the Chatbot available is to reach those users without a smartphone (as well as those with an old generation smartphone) or those whom do not wish to download the app but still want access to the test.
From the data collected through both tools, the health system is able to monitor those cases with symptoms and, if necessary, alerts the emergency services of the most severe cases and informs primary care centres of those with mild symptoms for their monitoring.
The information is also used to determine the evolution of the disease at the individual level and aggregate, in order to design and implement mesures and strategies to better the quality of the health services and conduct studies in relation to coronavirus.