Mitigating the risk of Covid-19 spread while complying with government regulations is seen as one of the principal challenges currently facing South African companies. Ensuring that employees return to a safe work environment and minimising the risk of local outbreaks of Covid-19 and subsequent closure of companies or departments, is a key component of reopening businesses across all sectors of the economy.

A new free application (app) that aims to help medium-sized to large organisations monitor and track employees for Covid-19 symptoms, is now available.

The CoronaFighter Enterprise Solution (ES) is designed to be a comprehensive, easily integrated tool enabling organisations to control access to premises, monitor the health of employees and visitors and disseminate Covid-19 information.

The integrated solution provides daily digital symptom-screening by means of a custom WhatsApp chatbot intended to identify individuals who may require Covid-19 testing. The app aims to provide organisations with the data required to control and mitigate the risk of infection presented by increasing numbers of people in a facility. The company asserts that all data is secure and private and that the tool can be used to reassure employees that the risk of contracting Covid-19 in the workplace is minimised in an efficient, high-tech and unobtrusive way.

All data collected can be viewed in real-time on an administrator dashboard that offers reporting capabilities including workforce health, work attendance, entry logs, quarantine requirements and test status. The app aims to reduce the need for physical, pen-and-paper screening systems that can be inefficient and increase the risk of spreading the virus in queues.

All user interactions with the WhatsApp chatbot system, including health screenings, are in the form of an instant-message conversation. A unique QR code received from the bot after a successful screening ensures that only those who are symptom-free are granted access to company premises.

Symptomatic individuals are allocated to a person-under-investigation list and guided through the process of seeking medical attention and testing for Covid-19, if deemed necessary. Access to company premises is denied until a clearance letter or negative test result is uploaded to the bot.

A temperature reading taken at the building entrance and logged on the system can be implemented as a final check before access is granted.  Company-specific policy updates, guidelines and alerts can also be distributed to employees for which a read-receipt functionality can be activated.

The CoronaFighter Web-based app platform was locally initiated, created and developed by Dr Jarrad van Zuydam and Dr Rick Diesel from InsightFit, in conjunction with teams from Sigma Digital and Lead Robot. In addition, over 30 volunteers from the Civitas founder network and Knife Capital's Grindstone network helped to build the app in just one week, say the developers.