Mobile Applications to Fight against COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case of Saudi Arabia.

In order to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic the government of Saudi Arabia launched three mobile applications namely Tetamman, Tabaud & Tawakkalna to keep the public aware about the corona virus and ensure monitoring of the suspected cases. The objective of this study is to curb the spread of COVID-19 by enhancing social measures and investigate the role of mobile applications in achievement of this objective. Comprehensive review of the role of mobile applications was made and a survey approach was used to evaluate the effectiveness of these applications. Findings of the study indicate that the users perceive that the applications are successful in achievement of the objectives for which these applications were launched. The key performance indicators (KPIs) included in the survey were efficiency, ease of use, satisfaction of users, fulfilment of purpose, usefulness and helpfulness etc. The average number of respondents, who agreed that these applications are performing according to the mentioned KPIs, is 86.6% for Tetamman, 80.5% for Tabaud and 90% for Tawakkalna. More awareness campaigns are needed so that more people adopt the use of these applications, which could significantly help in identification of new cases DOI: 10.18421/TEM101-09 https://doi.org/10.18421/TEM101-09 Corresponding author: Imdadullah Hidayat-ur-Rehman, MIS Department, CBA, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia. Email: ihidayaturrehman@ksu.edu.sa Received: 02 September 2020. Revised: 15 December 2020. Accepted: 21 December 2020. Published: 27 February 2021. © 2021 Imdadullah Hidayat-ur-Rehman et al; published by UIKTEN. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 License. The article is published with Open Access at www.temjournal.com and enhance telehealth and teleconsultations. Moreover, the applications should be upgraded for self-triage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]