Monitoring people in home quarantine using facial recognition technology

VHD software developed by Viettel Solutions has integrated quarantine monitoring function.

Ho Chi Minh City will pilot the application of information technology in home quarantine management and monitoring using VHD (VietNam Health Declaration) software after testing at a number of locations.

Monitor quarantined people with VHD software

Ho Chi Minh City has piloted the implementation of home quarantine for F1 cases using the VietNam Health Declaration (VHD) application. This is also the solution chosen by the Ministry of Health to pilot the implementation of medical quarantine to prevent and control the COVID-19 epidemic for entrants.

According to Mr. Luu The Anh, Deputy Director of the Center for Digital Health Solutions (Viettel Solutions), the application developer, after the testing phase, this unit recognized that the system performed well in managing the home declaration schedule of quarantined people and reminding quarantined people while warning medical staff when quarantined people did not make medical declarations.

Specifically, people in home quarantine will be required to use smartphones. At a certain time of the day, they will have to check in using facial recognition to make a health declaration.

"In the world, Singapore is also implementing similar home quarantine monitoring solutions. In Vietnam, whether to widely apply or not needs careful consideration from the Ministry of Health," Mr. The Anh shared.

In the immediate future, the developer is working with the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health to deploy the solution locally. This solution will then be deployed nationwide when the Ministry of Health officially recognizes that F1 or F0 can self-isolate at home.

Previously, on July 20, the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control (HCDC) held an online meeting with districts on implementing home quarantine for F1 in the area.

Accordingly, when F1 wishes to be quarantined at home, they will register their profile at the health station of the ward or commune where they reside. After receiving the list, the health stations will send this list to the ward or commune epidemic prevention steering committee. The receiving steering committee will send an appraisal team to assess the requirements for the quarantine facilities that F1 registered for.

According to Mr. Luu The Anh, the home quarantine monitoring solution has two mandatory options that must be implemented. First, people must have a smartphone, second, on mobile phones, when installing the application, there must be facial recognition for medical check-in.

People in home quarantine will be monitored using VHD software

When people check in to make a health declaration at home, the application will alert the management unit about whether the quarantined person has declared or not. The time of declaration will have different time frames, determined by the medical facility.

People who only use basic phones with calling and receiving functions can register for home quarantine via phone number. Every day, medical staff and ward police will come to check on quarantined people to see if they comply with home quarantine and update their health status.

Ensure the application can be deployed nationwide

Mr. Luu The Anh, representative of the VHD application development unit, said that the software has been piloted in at least one ward and commune in Thu Duc city and districts in Ho Chi Minh City. After completing the pilot phase, the Department of Information and Communications and the Department of Health will coordinate to advise on expanding the implementation throughout the city.

Ho Chi Minh City has organized 4 online training courses for 250 bridges and created 22 support channels for localities. Operators of portal 1022 have also been trained to be ready to support providing information to people. Units have fully prepared computers and transmission lines to serve the monitoring work.

Mr. The Anh also informed that when a quarantined person does not declare, a message will be sent to the manager about the subject being outside the quarantine area.

Regarding the handling process, when the quarantined person leaves the residential area, the local medical force and local police will come down to monitor and confirm the situation. After that, the authorities will take further measures in case the quarantined person leaves the residential area.

Regarding the management of quarantine information and case tracing, Mr. The Anh said that recently, the National Center for COVID-19 Prevention and Control Technology was established on a technology platform.

All data collected through the declaration applications will be pushed to this center. Therefore, if the applications with various features are effectively used, it is possible to effectively monitor people in quarantine, quickly isolate and trace when necessary.

Tracking the location of the subject, seeing where they have been, and through which areas will only be done when requested by the COVID-19 prevention and control steering committee. At that time, the health sector, telecommunications and even the police will join in.

Viettel Solutions - the unit developing the application to manage people in quarantine

Regarding the integration of COVID-19 prevention applications, Mr. The Anh said that each application has a different meaning and function. Although data integration is not difficult, using a common application will not be convenient for competent authorities to control information according to different groups of subjects, risks and purposes.

Therefore, it is likely that application development units and state management agencies will still maintain the application to serve current epidemic prevention work and support general operations of the health sector in the future.

According to the representative of Viettel Solutions, each process to be implemented is carefully considered by the Ministry of Health. In the immediate future, the home isolation solution using facial recognition will be tested in a small area. Then, from this location, experience will be drawn to deploy nationwide. Mr. The Anh also ensured that the implementation of this solution can run the same whether in a locality or nationwide.

The desire of the VHD application development unit is to integrate quarantine monitoring devices into the declaration management software. This will be the best solution to serve the monitoring of medical quarantine at home not only in Ho Chi Minh City but nationwide.

How to register and declare quarantine on VHD application

Users install the Vietnam Health Declaration (VHD) application on IOS or Android operating systems.

After downloading the application to the phone, on the application's login screen, the user enters the phone number to log in/register for an account, then clicks the Get OTP code button.

Next, the user enters the OTP confirmation code and presses the Confirm button. Each person will be given an account based on their mobile phone number.

Interface of Vietnam Health Declaration application. Users in quarantined areas select Register for declaration

Users fill in personal information completely and accurately to declare to the authorities.

Users must also update their current health status to the authorities.

Once declared, the user will confirm by face

Users register to declare facial recognition with 3 photos and home quarantine location

Users will also have to confirm whether their current location is within the quarantine area or not.

The time of declaration will have different time frames, as determined by the medical facility.

According to Vietnam+