A new website has been launched by the Ministry of Health (MoH), COVIDNOW, which creates charts and visuals that are easier for the public to understand, from raw data.
The website also allows the public to monitor the COVID-19 situation in Malaysia in a very scrutinised manner.
A group of innovative developers worked with MoH, 100% pro bono, to build a site that would help Malaysians monitor the epidemic.
This work was led by the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC), in conjunction with CPRC Hospital and the National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL).
1. Henry Lim, front-end web developer and creator of @MYVaccineCount Twitter Bot:
“I believe that COVID-19 data should be easily accessible by anyone, anywhere. It was nice to see Malaysia’s MoH open-sourcing their datasets – I was able to develop products which helped people get a better understanding of the epidemic in Malaysia.”
2. Calum Lim, designer and full-stack developer by day, hobbyist UI/UX designer by night:
“I joined the COVIDNOW project in hopes of providing an accessible and visually appealing site that would help Malaysians track the COVID-19 situation. I truly admire the effort that the MoH has put into curating and publishing its data, and hope it will persist – it provides transparency and allows creativity to flourish.”
3. Sheng Han Lim, back-end developer and data scientist and creator of MY Vax Tracker:
“I strongly believe in the role of Data Science and AI in changing human lives for the better. Here’s to hoping that stronger data storytelling on COVIDNOW and the ongoing open data initiative will help turn the tide in Malaysia’s battle with COVID-19.”
4. Roshen Maghhan, back-end developer, full stack developer, with an interest in problem solving:
“I enjoy programming and puzzles, and often spend my free time working on some project or another. I was really excited at the chance to get involved in this project, and hope to contribute more to MoH’s good work.”
Best part is that even with such good work done, all four developers choose to help develop COVIDNOW voluntarily without any remuneration from the government.
There is plenty of information to obtain using COVIDNOW, such as; active cases, recovered cases, deaths, quarantine centre capacity, Covid-19 treatment (quarantine and low-risk patients treatment centre (PKRC)), and vaccination status, while also narrowing the data set to each state.
