Role of COVIDsafe app and control measures in Australia in combating COVID-19 pandemic
Hafiz Syed Mohsin Abbas, Xiaodong Xu, Chunxia Sun
Abstract
Purpose COVID-19 (C19) has been destroying the world's health and emergency response system for almost the past year. Policymakers and health practitioners are trying their best to save the public through various policy development and initiatives in this regard. This study aims to examine the containment measures and their impacts on Australia's C19 situation in Australia's COVIDsafe app background. Design/methodology/approach This study investigates the role of the Australian Government's (AG) Health Containment (HC) and Stringency response (SR) in combating the C19 situation in Australia. The time horizon has been taken from January to October 2020 and applied Linear Regression with graphical demonstration analysis by STATA-18 version and MS Word chart features. Findings By applying linear regression and graphical demonstration, statistics revealed that AG made various policy developments during the C19 pandemic. However, due to inconsistent and unsustainable measures, the second C19 wave hit Australia much harder than the first wave. COVIDsafe app has been a vital AG in this regard; however, it did not show its progress during the second wave due to privacy issues. After the more focused and aggressive research and development measures, AG overcame the App drawbacks and controlled the situation, demonstrating 92% recovered statistics from C19. Practical implications The study concludes that AG should enforce many prudent policy measures and distinct E-government features in the COVIDsafe app and make it secure so people will use it in probable forthcoming C19 waves. Originality/value This study has examined the Government of Australia's containment measures in the background discussion of the COVIDsafe app.