A free monitoring app 'COVID-19 Symptom Tracker' has been developed by health technology company Zoe Global Limited in collaboration with scientists at King's College London, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital and Stanford University. A web-based equivalent is being developed for those unable to download this app. This new app records and monitors the symptoms of COVID-19 coronavirus infection; tracking in real time how the disease progresses. The app also records how measures aimed at controlling the pandemic including self-isolation and distancing affect the mental health and well-being of participants. The app also allows self-reporting where no symptoms are experienced such that it records any users that feel healthy and normal.~The app, has been launched in both the UK and the US. Researchers in other countries are encouraged to obtain the required approvals from Apple and Google to make the app available in their territories.~The data from the study will reveal important information about the symptoms and progress of COVID-19 infection in different people, and why some go on to develop more severe or fatal disease while others have only mild symptoms do not.~It is also hoped that the data generated from this study will help the urgent clinical need to distinguish mild coronavirus symptoms from seasonal coughs and colds, which may be leading people to unnecessarily self-isolate when they aren't infected or inadvertently go out and spread the disease when they are.~Users download the free app COVID-19 Symptom Tracker and record information about their health on a daily basis, including temperature, tiredness and symptoms such as coughing, breathing problems or headaches.~The app is available internationally to the general population and will also be used in two large epidemiological cohorts: The TwinsUK cohort (n=15,000) and Nurses Health Study (n=280,000).~The app will allow scientists to study the spread and development of symptoms across whole populations, both in the UK and abroad, as well as detailed genetic and other studies, particularly with the twins cohort~Any data gathered from the app and study will be used strictly for public health or academic research and will not be used commercially or sold.
The viral Covid-19 outbreak is now considered a pandemic according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). A free monitoring app 'COVID-19 Symptom Tracker' has been developed to record and monitor the symptoms of the COVID-19 coronavirus infection; tracking in real time how the disease progresses. The app also records how measures aimed at controlling the pandemic including self-isolation and distancing are affecting the mental health and well-being of participants. The data from the study will reveal important information about the symptoms and progress of COVID-19 infection in different people, and why some go on to develop more severe or fatal disease while others have only mild symptoms do not.