Malawi student in India develops Covid-19 tracker dashboard

Chisomo Daka, a Malawian currently studying in India has developed a Covid-19 Tracker Dashboard which is a web-based platform that provides access to coronavirus  related information in Malawi.

Daka:

In an interview with Nyasa Times, Daka said apart from serving the nation in difficult times, the tracker justifies the urgent need to access information by key stakeholders across the globe as new virus cases arise.

“As I speak to you, the Covid-19 Dashboards is up-running on our secure serverswith viewership in more than 30 countries worldwide,” said Daka whose tracker can be accessed on https://covid-19.airtechsmw.com.

He added: “I made commitments of time and resources to do this work  because I am patriotic of our country Malawi and also that Covid-19 affects all of us. Be it young or old, poor or rich, educated or not. Today it’s someone else who is getting infected; tomorrow it could be me or someone so dear to me.

“We all need to take a stand in preventing the spread of this virus with our respective abilities. Therefore, I saw it necessary to properly capture and represent the covid-19 data so that people with knowledge can use this data to make informed decisions at all levels of our society.”

The information is captured from various credible and verifiable sources and kept in a database where it is then processed to give more insightful overviews of the Covid-19 scenario in the country. Anyone who is connected to the internet via a web browser can easily access this platform and its contents.

This innovative product keeps track of the distribution of Covid-19 cases in all the districts of Malawi and aggregates all statistical data designated to Covid-19 case types or categories.

Daka said the online platform is not currently keeping any personal data other than the statistical and informative data available in public domain.

He said the updates are made on a database based on both the official and verifiable media reports in Malawi and the national published data taken from the Covid-19 statistics displayed by the web based system at the ministry of Health (MoH).

“On the Dashboard we have general covid-19 statistical and demographic information in Malawi. We also have a list of all Covid-19 Helplines in Malawi that any person can use to contact the responsible authorities (DEHO and IDSR phone numbers) in their respective districts (including Mzuzu city) in times of urgency or when they need any help,” he said.

The dashboard, added Daka, is also interfaced with an Admin login panel that is used to do most of the transactions on the Database.

“You may wish to note that this system has the ability to capture new Covid-19 suspects from any point of entry (be it at the borders of Malawi or the designated Covid-19 testing canters and hospitals) and can keep track of Travel Details, Personal Information,  Medical Conditions, Symptoms and Covid-19 status.

“The above admin features are however not in use as of today (pending possible collaboration with Malawi health officials and/or tCovidd-19 commission’s technical experts,” said the final year  MSc. Physics who is under the Malawi Government scholarship.

The innovation will enable the general public to have a readily available and easy to access Covid-19 information via their web browser applications on internet enabled devices like smartphones, tablets and computers.

The information being presented on the dashboard is well summarized and quantified so at it gives the meaningful sense to anyone who gets through it.

The system is also keeping track of the daily Covid-19 progression in terms of confirmed cases, active cases, recovered cases and death toll.

“Additionally, the tracker dashboard tabulates stats for each district on the highlighted features displays them with searchable options. There is also a Covid-19 district mapping (via google map API) that shows the distribution of cases in each district and gives more info when the location markers are clicked or hovered.

“Under the Helpline section, there is a complete list of all phone numbers that anyone might need to call the Covid-19 officials in their respective districts. All this and many more has been well thought of and put together with one goal of complimenting the tremendous efforts of the Malawi Government towards enabling access to useful covid-19 information to all Malawians across the country,” he said.

Daka graduated as a Physics student at the University of Malawi, supervised by Associate Prof. Chomora Mikeka and Dr. Stanley Mlatho at Chancellor College in November, 2015.

He joined the Malawi University of Science & Technology (MUST) in 2016 and he has since worked as a Staff Associate in Physics.

Daka is also an advocate of scientific and technological innovations among the youth.

Additionally, he is also an entrepreneur in the Computing & Technology Industry and he founded a Tech start-up company called Airwave Technologies (Malawi) in 2017.

Airwave offers software development solutions and cloud services like Website Hosting, Domain Registration, Cloud Backups, and many more

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Love
Love
3 years ago

Nyasatimes mwati Chisomo Nyirenda. Kapena Mkandawire ooooh ndakumvani Chisomo Gondwe

DPWIPWI
DPWIPWI
3 years ago

Ma CADDETHE nsanje ya ambuyanu basi. your heas are full of glaring machetes, zikwange basi mmutu, zero pa 10 basi. He has copy and pasted good things not za ambuyanuwo. MWANAYU wapanga zinthu zabwino.

Na bi soo
Na bi soo
3 years ago

Well done young man…..!

WRITING WHAT I SEE
3 years ago

great work

Zali
Zali
3 years ago

But this looks like the Covid-19 App that we are all using globally. Though this is great that it has been adapted to malawi it’s always good academic practice to acknowledge the source rather than claiming it as our own coz that’s plagiarism.

Nasingwe
Nasingwe
3 years ago
Reply to  Zali

thats usual works of malawians. nkhumba siibeleka bakha, akhala malodza. dzana litali ndi dzana zinacitika. akulu akulu anati
– MAFUTA TATSTITSA koma was long trail issue ftom OPEC meaning its a world wide issue
– RBM anayinamiza ngati zacokera konkuno yet it was from IMF ,a worldwide issue.
nde mwana athawila kuti ndi bodza loyamba makolo. kholo lakuba mwana angaleke kuba!!!!

Mpakateni
3 years ago

You have told us what he studies- fine but what is studying now in India because you have said Daka or Dhaka is a Malawian student in India?

Concord
Concord
3 years ago
Reply to  Mpakateni

Read where it says… Said the MSc. Final year Physics…

G Zali
G Zali
3 years ago

Machine

Mwene
Mwene
3 years ago

These are the type of YOUTHS that Malawi needs ( Innovative & Progressive) and they should be protected.To hell with the Dull, Stupid and Violent Cadets!!!!

Madubeko Hlezipe
Madubeko Hlezipe
3 years ago

well done and congratulations guys the dashboard is simple to follow it

Nasingwe
Nasingwe
3 years ago

mulumikizane ndi Jappie yu azionetsa pa so pa TV.
ngati jappie yu naye amadziwako za IT .nangatu anthu ambili angopatsidwa ma suit ndi office. amafusa secretary awapangile password ya info yao. aa zoopotoka ndithu.
cabwino tamva nangasotu kunjaku kwaculukila ndi ana a mabwana amakaphuzilako.
nanga abwanoni ngati ife tingazithange????

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