New Zealand border workers on Thursday began testing a health monitoring app named "elarm" designed to detect COVID-19, in what is being seen as a first such trial anywhere in the world.

"A trial is underway to see if an app connected to wearable smart devices can detect COVID-19 in border workers before they experience symptoms," said Shayne Hunter, deputy director-general of data and digital at New Zealand's Ministry of Health, in a media release.

About 500 border workers will take in the month-long trial, organized by the Ministry of Health, that will run until early May. After installing the app on a smart device, they will receive regular email reminders, and alerts throughout the day and can securely view their own health information on the app or by going online to view a dashboard, according to the release.

The elarm app connects to wearable devices such as fitness trackers and smart watches, using artificial intelligence to detect early physiological changes such as heart rate and temperature for tell-tale signs of COVID-19, several days before the user experiences symptoms.

The app could be connected to a range of wearable devices including Apple Watch, Fitbit, Oura, Garmin, Withings, Huawei, Mi and other brands compatible with Google Fit or Apple Watch, according to the app developer Datamine, a New Zealand-based company.

Datamine claims that elarm can detect coronavirus with 90 percent accuracy up to three days before visible symptoms such as coughing, breathing difficulties and fatigue appear. The firm said it will provide wearable devices for border workers taking part in the trial who do not have a Fitbit or smartwatch.  

The ministry said the app can offer a critical early warning for border workers, who face a high risk of COVID-19 exposure from arriving international travelers.

"If the elarm app lives up to its potential, it might provide early notification to our critical border workforce if they're becoming unwell. That means they can take appropriate action such as self-isolating and being tested for COVID-19," said Hunter.

How does elarm work?

New Zealand has been largely successful in containing the pandemic, with only 26 deaths reported so far in a population of five million. The few community cases that have occurred have mostly been linked to border workers who caught the virus from incoming travelers undergoing quarantine.

"Even though our border workers are vaccinated, the reality is that some people will still feel unsure about the increased risk of exposure to COVID-19 from working on the border. We want to really support this essential work by giving people good tools to monitor their own health to keep themselves, their whanau (Maori word for extended family) and all of New Zealand safe and healthy," said Hunter.

According to a media statement from Datamine, elarm is now being used by people and large organizations in over 50 countries. The app is available to individuals for a monthly subscription and some firms such as U.S. mining giant Newcrest have reportedly made it available to their employees.

However, the New Zealand trial is believed to be the first time a government has used it at the border, which is widely viewed as the frontline in containing the virus.

"Although this type of technology is available to consumers in other countries, the Ministry of Health is not aware of any other country who is trialing it in their border workforce," AFP quoted a ministry spokeswoman as saying.

The ministry assured that the privacy of data collected from border workers will remain secure. "The app establishes a personalized health baseline for each user, based on their wearable data history. All data used by the app is entirely private to the individual participants, which is a fundamental part of elarm's privacy-by-design principles," it said.