Te Tari Taiwhenua
Department of Internal Affairs
Purpose
1. This briefing provides an update on work to investigate the feasibility of using the
CovidCard to enhance contact tracing.
Background
2. New Zealand is pursuing an elimination strategy for COVID-19 and we have made
remarkable progress. However, this is against the background of a growing global
pandemic with over 150,000 new cases per day. Where new cases are discovered
through testing, contact tracing is critical to identifying contacts of a person infected
with COVID-19.
3. On 20 April 2020, Cabinet noted that officials are assessing the use of a Bluetooth-
enabled card to support contact tracing and wil report back to the Minister of Finance,
the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Minister of Health, the Minister of Justice, and the
Minister for Government Digital Services [CAB-20-MIN-0175]. On 13 May 2020, the
Social Wellbeing Committee noted that a report-back to Cabinet with
recommendations in relation to the consumer app Bluetooth assessment, and the
Bluetooth-enabled card proof of concept, was planned for June 2020
[SWC-20-MIN-0043]. Progress in the assessment and proof of concept has been made
but further work is required.
The Public Private Partnership group has produced a report recommending
deployment of the CovidCard
4. As directed by Cabinet, the Government Chief Digital Officer (GCDO) has worked with
the Public Private Partnership group (PPP) to investigate a Bluetooth-enabled
CovidCard to support contact tracing. The PPP has:
• conducted a small-scale test of a prototype CovidCard in the Nelson Hospital that
indicated it could work at a technical level, but further testing is required to
determine if the CovidCard is a feasible solution; and
• produced a report that recommends the government consider deploying the
CovidCard nationwide in advance of relaxing border settings. Their report states
the CovidCard would take six months to deploy from a decision to do so, at a cost
of $98.5 million in the first year and $64 million in the second year.
We are further assessing the feasibility and value of the CovidCard
5. The first phase of further work involves the GCDO leading the completion of the proof
of concept, which we aim to complete by late July. This involves commissioning
Defence Technology Agency (DTA) to verify technical feasibility (including a possible
further larger scale closed trial in a Defence Force setting), and undertaking an
independent assessment of the potential contribution of CovidCard to managing the R
value. The GCDO wil consult with the Ministry of Health (MoH), and the Ministry of
Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).
6. In parallel, MBIE will lead the development of design options for implementing
CovidCard. This will include policy settings (such as whether wearing a CovidCard
should be mandatory, and in which settings), any legislative changes, and any
governance arrangements that would be required. It will also include operational
IN-CONFIDENCE
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Te Tari Taiwhenua
Department of Internal Affairs
deployment options and costing. MBIE wil consult with MoH, the Ministry of Justice
and the GCDO.
7. The second phase, led by MBIE, wil involve advice on whether to proceed with
CovidCard and how to implement it. If Ministers decide to proceed with CovidCard,
MBIE will lead implementation.
The CovidCard presents opportunities and risks
8. The CovidCard could provide an opportunity to complement manual tracing to make
contact tracing faster and more accurate, which would support efforts to manage
COVID-19 without having to go into lockdown. The CovidCard would automatically
record close contacts without requiring people to know each other or remember any
information about who they have been near. Importantly, it could be used by people
that do not have smartphones and/or do not use apps.
9. However, at this stage the CovidCard is still an unproven high-cost technology, with a
moderate to high degree of uncertainty around outcomes and value to the end to end
contact tracing process. Risks for the CovidCard include the following:
• The CovidCard has a long implementation time, so it could not be deployed for any
outbreaks in the near future;
• A large-scale distribution effort would be needed to ensure New Zealanders can
access the card;
• It is uncertain whether New Zealanders would wear the CovidCard as intended
(PPP report recommended a lanyard for the CovidCard to be most effective),
particularly if people perceive the threat of COVID-19 as low;
• The CovidCard and associated systems would need to be integrated into existing
contact tracing systems, including processing false positives (which are currently at
about 10 percent);
• The Government would likely have to bear the costs associated with producing and
distributing the card to encourage high uptake in the general population –
requiring the user to bear even a proportion of these costs would likely be a major
disincentive to it being used; and
• The cards are designed to last 12 months and, once distributed, cannot be updated
to enhance the card or fix faults, unlike a mobile application.
Next steps
10. The indicative timeframes for completion of proof of concept work is late July 2020.
We will update on progress with this and provide further advice on other next steps,
including reporting back to Cabinet, at a later date.
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