Enabling
Project
CookSafe+ App
Client
Government of the Cook Islands
Scroll
THE OPPORTUNITY
The COVID19 pandemic had a devastating effect on tourism across the world, and it was felt deeply across the pacific island nations. Mark Brown, the Cook Islands Prime Minister, made a commitment to go all-out to return tourists to the islands and revitalise their economy.
Launching a new digital contact tracing solution that was interoperable with the NZ COVID Tracer app was identified as an essential step for opening a safe travel bubble with New Zealand.
THE PROCESS
RUSH worked alongside the Cook Islands and New Zealand government in anticipation of the two-way travel bubble between the two countries.
If a potential COVID case was identified in a resident of, or visitor to, the Cook Islands, the Ministry of Health would need to be able to quickly begin the contact tracing process for both parties. This meant that users would need a way to maintain their anonymously recorded Bluetooth ID codes of people that they may have encountered while they were travelling, or visited.
Calling on experience from the design and development for the NZ COVID Tracer app, and specifically around the Bluetooth tracing technology, the team needed to implement Bluetooth tracing in the Cook Islands, and then find a way to connect the systems.
THE SOLUTION
We created a new digital product called CookSafe+, to sit alongside the existing CookSafe app used by residents of the Cook Islands.
By developing a new app to enable the use of the Exposure Notification Framework within the Cook Islands, and then creating interoperability between the Cook Islands and New Zealand Exposure Notifications solutions, users on either app can rely on their Bluetooth contact tracing to keep them informed and safe when they travel and interact with people in the other country.
THE IMPACT
The Cook Islands contact tracing app was launched in April 2021, in advance of quarantine-free travel from New Zealand opening up in May 2021. Developing this interoperable contact tracing application was a first in the southern hemisphere, and had only been done in one other instance overseas.
CookSafe+ and its compatibility with the NZ COVID Tracer app was of vital importance to the opening of a travel bubble between the Cook Islands and New Zealand.
What our client says
"We reached out to RUSH to investigate a solution - we were immediately impressed with their responsiveness and professionalism. There were challenging features that highlight the innovativeness and scope that RUSH put into the design and development. Needless to say they delivered the app as per design and within schedule, and our border opening went ahead to the satisfaction of both governments."
Ben Ponia
Chief of Staff, Office of the Prime Minister
Services delivered
- UI Design
- Front End Development
- Back End Development
- Native Application Development
- Systems Architecture
- Cloud Integration
- Application Testing
- Application Support