The design and development of a digital contact tracing application to better facilitate the tracing of passengers in the event of a biological threat/ pandemic

With increasing air travel, contagion can spread anywhere in the world within 24 hours. As a result, the potential risk of introduction and spread of infectious disease is on the rise. Recently, we the global spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) showed the potential of a contagion to emerge, spread and effect the health, social and economic life of people globally. Contact tracing represents an important factor in mitigating the global spread of a pandemic. This research in progress paper explores the design and development of a ‘contact tracing’ application in relation to airline passengers in the event of a biological threat or pandemic. The current paper-based method of contact tracing has many limitations that can lead to delayed identification of at-risk passengers and ultimately increased the spread of contagion. The use of a digital contact tracing application provides a method of rapidly collecting passenger contact information.