SA authorities exams house quarantine app with facial recognition, GPS monitoring software program

The South Australian government will test a smartphone app that uses facial recognition and geolocation to confirm a person’s location during home quarantine.

The government will test the app known as Home Quarantine SA with 50 residents who will have to go through a 14-day quarantine this week when they return from interstate locations.

The app enables test takers to “confirm their location through regular check-ins” via a live face check-in feature that uses face recognition and location verification.

It gives individuals 15 minutes to respond to the random location verification requests at their registered location.

The app also gives study participants access to their test plan, the ability to conduct daily symptom reviews, and access resources related to health and wellbeing.

The government said the use of this “cutting edge technology” will ensure people “follow their home quarantine instructions” and “are at their approved home quarantine address”.

If the test proves successful, it envisions that Home Quarantine SA will become another tool to reduce the spread by joining the QR code check-in function via the mySA Gov app.

Premier Steven Marshall said that the new Home Quarantine SA app, such as “COVID SAfe Check In, has strong security features that ensure attendee information is kept safe”.

“This innovative technology is the most advanced of its kind in Australia,” he said, adding that it could offer more options and “improved results” for returning travelers in the future.

Marshall said any future expansion of the home quarantine would be preceded by a “thorough evaluation of the process.”

“It must be reiterated that this is a process and the results and the lessons learned will come first in any decision to continue or expand it,” he said.

In response to iTnews’ questions, a ministry spokesman for the Prime Minister and Cabinet said the app was “developed from scratch” by the government’s digital team “over two and a half months.”

SA Health originally signed a $ 1.1 million contract with Perth-based software company GenVis last year for a “digital application to comply with the Covid-19 quarantine at home”.

GenVis is behind WA’s G2G Now app, which also uses facial recognition and location data to confirm a person’s location during home quarantine.

But after criticism of the app’s performance, Health Minister Stephen Wade informed the state parliament three months later that the relationship had ended.

“In my opinion, the development proposal with this company was unsuccessful and our relationship with this company will not continue,” he said in February.

Wade said the Genvis contract was subsequently reduced to $ 25,300.