How to get useful information about the COVID-19

Before getting to the substance and talk about which are top mobile applications and websites related to Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), we would like responsibly highlight this pandemic is the most important health situation that has been experienced in the decade. It is an urgent world health problem that should not be taken lightly; therefore, people must be very cautious with the information received and the way it is used. You must try to stay informed by reading and searching in official sources and taking the recommended measures by endorsed entities and experts only.

In this article, we will talk about official websites that generate useful information and monitor virus worldwide behavior and evolution; as well as, we will talk about most popular sites and mobile applications that currently exists and their purpose. Actually, most of the existing COVID-19 apps intend to trace and identify individuals among contacts who have been diagnosed positive with SARS?CoV?2.

Today, there is so much controversy regarding to the use and privacy of personal data accessed by these applications; however, there are many of them whose use has been endorsed and sponsored by the same governments in some countries. In this sense, we invite you to read our recommendations first and then, if there are any that you consider useful, you can do some further research before deciding to install it.

TOP 10 COVID-19 apps and sites

It is important to emphasize that the existing technological tools and artifacts are product of multidisciplinary collaborative working of professionals whose common goal is social responsibility derived from a global health crisis. Next, we will first introduce relevant organizations in global health matters official sites, followed by most important frameworks and apps related to coronavirus COVID-19 disease:

World Health Organization (WHO)

WHO it would be our first information source in everything related to COVID-19 subject because it is the principal responsible for international public health as United Nations working entity (at https://www.who.int/)

They have a worldwide dashboard where we can explore global situation of the coronavirus disease in https://covid19.who.int/.

Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)

PAHO as an international agency oriented to ensure improvement of America�s public health and their living standards, shares responsibilities in matters of health and hygiene and are actively working against coronavirus disease pandemic (visit http://paho.org/)

European Public Health Association (EUPHA)

EUPHA is an international organization who leads a public health network of institutions and associations that also brings support versus COVID-19 in the European area (see https://eupha.org/)

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

UNESCO is an international agency of the United Nations whose greatest contribution is to promote global well-being through education, sciences, solidarity and knowledge (https://en.unesco.org/covid19).

Exposure Notification

Exposure Notification is a Google and Apple initiative that intends to established a digital contact tracing specification in order to control proximity to positive diagnosed individuals (see https://www.google.com/covid19/exposurenotifications/).

Covid Watch

Covid Watch is a mobile application, based on Temporary Contact Number�(TCN) protocol, it invites citizens to take care of themselves and their community (https://covid-watch.org/)

TraceTogether

TraceTogether is another smartphone contact tracing app that works based on exchange signals between devices at short-distance proximity (https://www.tracetogether.gov.sg/).

Corona Meter

Corona Meter is a website with an interactive maps and dashboards that shows global COVID-19 spread, which is updated based on Johns Hopkins University data (https://coronameter.co/)

The Corona DataSpende

The Corona DataSpende is a smartwatch app that measures vital signs such as pulse and temperature to determine whether there are flu-like illness symptoms, in order to help monitor spread of coronavirus (https://corona-datenspende.de)

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Self-Checker

Coronavirus Self-Checker is a website provided by Johns Hopkins University that mainly helps us to check ourselves for coronavirus symptoms through an interactive tool

(https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/coronavirus/covid-19-self-checker.html)

And there are more�

Coronavirus disease is global matter and all governments, institutions and organizations are working in self initiatives against this pandemic situation, therefore there are much more than just 10 top mobile applications and websites related to COVID-19.

Just to mention most knows or used: COVID-19 Contact-Confirming Application, HaMagen, Aarogya Setu, NHS smartphone app, LetsBeatCOVID.net, PeduliLindungi, Kwarantana Dommowa, COVIDSafe, Alipay, CoronApp, Corona-Warn-App, StopCovid, Radar COVID, SwissCovid, among others.

Also, there are many alliances and collaborations between technology institutions and health-oriented organizations to fight the coronavirus disease pandemic working on research projects and studies. As well as, different technological approaches, protocols and specifications, such as Decentralized Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing�(DP-3T), Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing (PEPP-PT), Privacy-Sensitive Protocols And Mechanisms for Mobile Contact Tracing (PACT) / Covid Safe and� Exposure Notification we had mention earlier.

In all these projects, technology is in the eye of the hurricane, given use of personal data implication and controversies for privacy, discrimination and marginalization concerns. So much so, that it is being evaluated whether tracking of people is actually the best solution; even though its use is optional and voluntary, since its download and execution must be authorized by the user. At last, but not least, accuracy, reliability and effectiveness are also a relevant problem to have in mind.

For further information about mobile applications and sites worldwide available related to coronavirus disease you can visit the �List of countries with official contact tracing apps� provided in Wikipedia where there are listed many apps by countries.

We hope this article will be useful to find a technological tool that can help you to be safe and help others.

Take care and stay home!