Fevermap supports health authorities with data

A limited supply of testing equipment, concerns over resource efficiency and sheer prioritising of professional personnel have led many countries to focus COVID-19 testing on the most vulnerable groups, critical infrastructure employees and persons with clear symptoms. This could be leaving health authorities in the dark as to the real spread of the virus.

“According to experts, there are 30 to 40 times more infections than what the official test results can tell us,” said Otto Kekäläinen, who put the Fevermap project in motion.

Fevermap is a zero-cost and real-time tracking tool offering a visual overview of the location of people with symptoms. The tool relies on a simple self-reporting app to gather data on fever and other symptoms.

“With Fevermap we try to help authorities to gain a real situation picture of how many infected Finns are currently outside the health services,” explained Kekäläinen.

The idea was born out of a Twitter conversation between Kekäläinen and Matias Huhta, who are both employed in the IT sector. It was hacked into its current form in 48 hours during the online hackathon Hack the Crisis Finland.

Fevermap has already been translated to 11 languages and is operated by volunteers from 12 countries, with plans to develop the solution and broaden its coverage.