By Yemisi Suleiman

Following the recent spike in confirmed cases of Covid-19 pandemic ravaging the country, OOK group Nigeria Limited has created an application that helps monitor and curb the spread of Covid-19.

HMSN, (health monitoring services Nigeria) is an artificial intelligence (AI) monitoring and risk assessment tool implemented relatively to help organizations and individuals to monitor the spread of Covid-19.

Omolara Svensson

The Managing Director OOK Group Nigeria Limited Omolara Svensson noted that the app comes in two packs: individual subscription and corporate subscription. “If you are a staff in a company, the human resource department or whoever is in charge, does the subscription for all staff  and a link will be sent to every staff, so that they can do their subscription themselves.  So that company does not have access to your data. The only thing the company has done is pay for the subscription and get notifications that one of their staff has gone from green to amber or to red. What that information does is to protect staff from coming to work and expose the rest of the staff to Covid-19.”

Speaking on the objective of the app, Svensson said that a health monitoring service is important as it helps take away the fear and panic which is what kills people more than the virus itself. “Also to save time and money, if you do not have Covid-19, the health monitoring service will let you know that you do not have symptoms of Covid-19 but consult a doctor. Individuals can see their data and statistics themselves, which helps to know what their severity stage is. For corporate organizations, offices, churches, schools, households where you have domestic staff, it helps to arm oneself against being exposed to someone who might be having the virus.” he said.

Speaking on how the app works, Development Service Director, OOK Group Nigeria Limited, Dr. Adetayo Olagbegi said that “Subscribers are required to input data twice daily for about five to seven days to be able to determine if they have been exposed or contracted Covid-19. The severity rating is divided into three parts. Green is low risk of having Covid-19 severity level one to three. Amber is a mild risk; they should at this stage self-isolate. Red is a high risk of having Covid-19 and should seek immediate medical intervention and isolation.”

Olagbegi noted that the system ensures adequate security for client’s data. “Data ownership is taken very seriously with the HMSN, which is why we have integrated a high-tech personal identification system. The registered client of the service is the owner of all of their own data. They assign viewing rights to their personal data via the platform. No data is emailed or electronically transmitted from the platform to any third party that does not agree to HMSN privacy policy and only after permission is sought by the owner of the Data.”

He stated that it is an artificial intelligence and mathematics that can’t be manipulated, once a subscriber stops inputting data and later starts again the graph shows. “And if a subscriber continues to manipulate her data, it points her out as a danger to members of the organization. No one can have your data. We work with a security company called Yoti. In order for you to get the app, or to get into the health monitoring service platform you will have to download Yoti because it stores your information but doesn’t have access to your data because your data collection is encrypted. Not even your company has access to your data. The only person that has access to your data is whoever you give the permission to log on to your health monitoring service and that is a bit tight because each time you log in, Yoti asks for your facial recognition or a barcode and then a password. So in a situation where you haven’t set up your password and it is just a barcode and your facial recognition, you are basically the only person who can access your data.”