AUB & TEDMOB team contributes in building official COVID-19 contact tracing app for Lebanon

AUB & TEDMOB team contributes in building official COVID-19 contact tracing app for Lebanon

AUB | 17, Sep 2020

Share it on

The Humanitarian Engineering Initiative at AUB, including faculty members, research assistants, and student interns from FHS, MSFEA, and FAS, collaborated with the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) and TedMob, to design and develop “Ma3an – Together Against Corona,” the official contact tracing and exposure notification mobile app for Lebanon.


“Ma3an is a tool to help the contact tracing efforts that the Ministry is regularly carrying out and it is a way to keep our communities safer; as many other similar apps developed in the world,” wrote AUB Professor Imad H. Elhajj, a member of the Ma3an team, encouraging the AUB community to install the app and to share it among their family, friends, and students. “The more we activate the app, the more we can shield ourselves and our communities. Together, against Corona.”


How it works


The app was built to help the Lebanese community fight the COVID-19 outbreak by using Bluetooth technology to detect nearby devices that also have the app and, accordingly, provide the ability to notify at-risk contacts of COVID-19 cases to proceed for testing without disclosing identities. The app does not track geolocation or positioning information and does not collect personal identifiers.


When the Ma3an app detects another device with the same app installed, a randomly generated number is exchanged between the devices and stored locally on each device. If an individual tests positive for COVID-19, they can consent for MoPH to use the information collected of those who were in the individual’s proximity to notify those who may have been exposed. If a person has been exposed to the virus by someone they have been in close contact with, the MoPH will be able to contact them quickly so that they can get the support needed, lowering the risk of serious consequences.


Get the app


To download Ma3an on the App Store and Google Play:

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1515710223

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tedmob.moph.tracer


For more information about Ma3an and how it works:

https://www.moph.gov.lb/en/ma3an (English)

https://www.moph.gov.lb/ar/m​a3an (Arabic)


For more Info:

https://www.aub.edu.lb/articles/Pages/ma3an-against-corona.aspx