Digital Contact Tracing through the use of NFC on mobile applications as a future viable alternative to QR Code Scanning in the context of Fiji

ABSTRACT

Coronavirus disease 2019 continues to devastate many countries around the world including Fiji, which relies on digital contact tracing apps such as careFiji to help contain the virus. Certain audits and papers show that Quick Response (QR) codes have low rates of usage which might affect the effectiveness of contact tracing efforts, especially in Fiji. This paper is a limited review of the technologies as well as contact protocols used in contact tracing, the official contact tracing apps used in the south pacific and an overview of the careFiji app. The aim of this is to find out about the contact tracing technologies and protocols to aid in designing a solution to the problems encountered in careFiji as well as other similar contact tracing apps in the South Pacific. The authors propose a NearField Communication (NFC) Contact Tracing Solution Model to supplement the current QR scanning feature of the careFiji app to allow for increased usage of the location-coupled tracking feature of contact tracing efforts. Results of tests conducted prove the convenience and time saving measures of a sample contact tracing app employing NFC versus the careFiji app relying on QR scanning for location-coupled tracking.