NSTDA’s DDC-Care was presented with an award from Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI) at the press conference hosted by MHESI on 24 December 2020.
Developed by Dr. Ananlada Chotimongkol and Dr. Naiyana Sahavechaphan in collaboration with Thailand’s Department of Disease Control (DDC), DDC-Care is a system designed for tracking and monitoring health of individuals at risk of COVID-19. The system has supported Thai public health authority in assessing the outbreak situation and preparing for surveillance, prevention and control of the deadly virus, as well as providing treatment to individual patient in a timely manner.
DDC-Care consists of three main parts:
- DDC-Care REGISTRY: a web-based application for users to register for their accounts and get the approval by the DDC officials;
- DDC-Care APP: a mobile application allowing access to users’ GPS locations and alerting authorities if users leave the designated quarantine area. The application is available on both iOS and android platforms and supports 4 languages, Thai, English, Chinese and Burmese;
- DDC-Care DASHBOARD: a web-based application allowing authorities to monitor health and location of users under quarantine in real-time, and generating data visualization.
People identified as at risk will be closely monitored via this system. If the daily health report shows high risk, user will be alerted to contact public health authorities via DDC-Care App. The system also supports contact tracing investigation, should the quarantine be violated.
DDC-Care has been employed to support authorities to monitor at-risk people placed under a self quarantine. As the country is facing the surge of cases this December, DDC-Care is being used by Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital for monitoring 100 at-risk people, the University of Phayao Medical Center and Hospital for monitoring 60 at-risk people, as well as Mae Sot Public Health Office and Mae Sot General Hospital to monitor at-risk people around Thailand-Myanmar border. Additional authorities and hospitals are in the process of employing DDC-Care to curb the spread of the disease.