Singapore—A netizen has created an online map so that one can easily see the places visited by people who have tested positive for Covid-19.
The map can be viewed here.
Creator Weihan Tay, who debuted his online map three days ago, acknowledged people may be dismayed when they see how quickly the virus has spread in Singapore.
In a Facebook post on May 16, Mr Tay wrote, “It does seem like a mini circuit breaker/lockdown all over again and all our efforts had gone to (sic) drain. I believe many of us are disappointed with the virus spreading far and wide across Singapore, disrupting our livelihoods…”
He also said that an idea came to him last week as the Covid situation worsened.
“I wanted to help to improve a particular area which seemed flawed, as well as hopefully allow others to come to a realisation that (sic) how infectious this virus is from a Google map perspective.”
He was able to create the map app within 36 hours, only sleeping six hours in the process.
Mr Tay warned, however, that his “project might not be perfect and might be buggy”.
When people click on the markers on the Google map, they will see the places visited by Covid-19 cases and the time and date of their visits.
Mr Tay acknowledged that the list of places visited by Covid-19 cases is released by the Ministry of Health, but of late, the data has become “too huge” due to the growing number of cases, which could demotivate people from checking the list.
His map makes it a lot easier for them.
“Being able to visualise it will help others to be more aware that they visited those places…”
He wrote that he will be updating the list and make improvements on the site, with more features to come, and “constructive feedback” to help make things better.
The app creator added, “it might seem very messy with many google markers everywhere on the map.” He did it intentionally, he said, so that people can see all the places visited by Covid-19 cases. “With that many markers everywhere, it is the time to stay even more vigilant and careful so that we can protect our love ones (especially our aging parents),” he added.
He also clarified that he does not mean to “bash” any business that has Covid cases nearby, but wishes to help people think twice before visiting these places.
Mr Tay added that he makes no profit from the web page, and encouraged others to share it, for the benefit of all.
Since his original post, he has updated it twice.
In one update he wrote “Current Situation seems pretty serious as community cases as well as unlinked cases are growing exponentially. This list consists of places of covid-19 cases that MOH posted from 9 May onwards** (website last updated on 18 May) Please use this list wisely to help yourself and those around you. Having >10 unlinked cases per day is worrying.”
/TISG
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