Belgian port to test bracelets for coronavirus social distancing

Workers in the port of Antwerp will next month begin testing wristbands developed by a Belgian technology company that could help guarantee the social distancing required during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rombit, also Antwerp-based, already supplies wearables resembling a sports watch that can warn workers if vehicles are approaching, provide an alert if someone falls into the water or control who uses what equipment or enters specific zones.

New software recently installed could help workers keep a required distance apart by giving warning signals if they come for example within 1.5 metres (five feet) of each other.

The developers believe it also could offer contact tracing if someone becomes infected with the coronavirus. The company or health officials can then establish with whom the person was in contact at work in the preceding weeks.

Rombit CEO John Baekelmans stresses that, for data privacy reasons, the app is not designed to allow companies to track the location of their workers. Devices merely communicate with each other not with a central server or the internet.

Read more via Reuters