With the latest developments in the MySejahtera application that is supposed to make our lives easier, some features end up fuelling everyone’s curiosity due to the complications that arise from it. One such feature would be the “check out” feature on the application. This feature would only appear after checking-in to a specific location.
For instance, if you have checked into Mall A using your MySejahtera application, automatically, a check out option will be displayed on your application. You would then be required to tap that option upon leaving.
Theoretically, that might be viable but in practice, it’s just plain confusing. The rationale of this “check out” option would be to make the process of contact tracing easier but it just makes the lives of the users difficult. Many frustrated users would end up not checking out of the location.
Technically, according to the application, they would be deemed to have spent the night at the location. Jokes aside, here’s the solution to this according to the Data Head of the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC), Dr Mahesh Appannan – before the check out option was made available to the users, the check-in function was used to put an ‘upper bound’ for the duration of individuals in a specific location.
Picture this: If a person were to check-into a restaurant X at 7pm, and restaurant Y at 8pm, the individual would be at restaurant X for 1 hour. If the check-in was deemed to be outlying (meaning, if you were to leave the location, head straight home, and only leave home the following day), then the system detects this as an outlier and would then use the average duration spent — based on the location, time and demographic).
According to Dr Mahesh, this average is very stable as it was produced from billions of check-ins nationwide. Despite the introduction of the new method of checking in, it is important to note that the same thing occurs when you don’t check out from a specific location.
The average time spent would be used to solve any issues that arise from the check-out feature. Adding on, he said, “We really encourage individuals to check-out after leaving a premise. It enables us to help you, as a user. But, if you forget about it, fret not! We would not assume that you’ve spent the night at your workplace or at the restaurant.”
Source: The Rakyat Post
