Installing Bluezone application: Protect yourself and the whole community

(LSO) – Implementing the Official Letter No. 2841/BTTTT-THH of the Ministry of Information and Communications dated August 1, 2020 on the deployment of propaganda to install of Bluezone application to quickly trace and locate Covid-19 area, the Steering Committee of Covid – 19 prevention and control in Lang Son province has issued a document to encourage installing Bluezone applications in the area.

Bluezone is an application using low energy Bluetooth positioning technology to detect people in close contact with Covid-19 infected people via smartphones quickly and accurately. Smartphones with Bluezone can communicate with each other at up to 2 meters, recording close contact date annd time. Since then, it helps users to know and control close contacts if a Covid-19 F0 infection is detected.

Facing the complicated developments of the Covid-19 epidemic in the whole province, the use of Bluezone is extremely important. However, this application is only effective when the number of users is large enough, about 50% or more. According to the Department of Information and Communication, currently, the province has more than 800,000 mobile phone subscribers. Thus, the number of people who install and use this application need to reach over 400,000.

Officers of the Department of Information and Communication install and use Bluezone application

In order to mobilize the entire people to install, the Department of Information and Communications actively advised the Provincial Steering Committee of Covid – 19 prevention and control to issue the Document No. 95/CV-BCĐ, dated August 4, 2020, requesting agencies and applications. install the application. Accordingly, it requested agencies, units, departments, branches, and the People’s Committees of districts and city to reach to each establishment, village, street block with the motto “reach every street, knock every house”, encouraging people to install Bluezone app.

Responding to the application installation, agencies and units actively propagated on the mass media, mobilized officials in the agency as well as the people to implement. Mr. Ly Hong Hai, Head of Propaganda, Press, Publishing of Department of Information and Communications, said: ‘The Department issued Document No. 1405/STTTT-TTBCXB dated August 4, 2020 to all departments, sectors and unions , People’s Committees of districts, city, press agencies, postal and telecommunications businesses to propose to strengthen the implementation of Covid-19 prevention by disseminating and thoroughly informing people to install Bluezone application on their phones , sending Zalo messages, phone messages to people to install Bluezone, propagandizing on the district and commune radio and television speakers … Along with that, we have sent a template for the communication banner to install Bluezone to all districts and city to actively propagate; sending 3 propaganda videos of 8 seconds, 15 seconds, 30 seconds broadcast on Lang Son Radio and Television. At the unit, 100% of staff in the agency have installed and used this application.’

Along with that, other units are also actively propagating and deploying application installation. Ms. Dam Thi Thanh Tam, Head of the Propaganda Department of Lang Son Provincial Youth Union said: ‘Implementing the direction of the Provincial Steering Committee of Covid-19 prevention and control on the installation of Bluezone application, we have been urging Youth Union levels to propagandate about the features, how to install and use Bluezone by posting articles on social networks as Zalo, Facebook to mobilize people to participate. At the unit, 100% of officials, civil servants and public employees have installed the application.’

Not only official, civil servants, public employees, many people in the province have actively installed Bluezone application for self-monitoring. Ms. Linh Thuy Duong, Dong Tan commune, Huu Lung district said: ‘Through reading information shared on social networks and propagated by the Youth Union, I know that Bluezone application works to warn us when we have close contact with Covid-19 infected people so I installed it.’

Thanks to the responses of agencies, units and people, as of the morning of August 9, there are 110,000 people registered to install Bluezone applications, reaching the rate of 15% and ranked 6th in the country.

Bluezone application has a high level of security, using Bluetooth low energy technology that only costs around 10% of battery per day. But the application only works when the number of users reaches over 50%. Therefore, it is necessary to get the response from everyone in the coming time for the prevention and control of Covid-19 epidemic in the area in particular and the whole country in general to be effective.