So long, Doctor Wins.
The controversial government-made tracking app Mor Chana (“Doctor Wins”) will no longer exist as of June 1, its makers announced.
“The application service will be terminated from June 1 onward,” reads a notification. “We’d like to thank everyone who helped control the COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand.”
It did not give a reason for ending the service, but the timing coincides with a previously announced timeline for downgrading COVID-19 from pandemic to endemic status.
Launched in 2020, the application uses GPS and Bluetooth technologies to help medical professions and government agencies track the locations of patients and show whether people have been at risk of exposure.
The government even made it mandatory for people to install and threatened incarceration for up to two years and a THB40,000 (US$1,550) fine for those who didn’t.
After peaking in late March at nearly 30,000 new cases per day, the rate of infection has fallen off to a seven-day average of under 10,000. Hospitals are still feeling the pinch, with roughly 80,000 patient beds in use.
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