From smallpox to influenza, pandemic diseases throughout history have spread quickly, causing devastation to entire populations.
In the hopes of preventing another pandemic disease from hitting, BBC Four has created a new app that tracks where users travel and interact.
The data collected will be used to simulate how a pandemic might spread – and to determine what could be done to stop it.
In a post on its website, a spokesperson for the BBC said: ‘There are flu outbreaks every year but in the last 100 years, there have been four pandemics of a particularly deadly flu, including the Spanish Influenza outbreak which hit in 1918, killing up to 100 million people worldwide’ (stock image of influenza virus)
From today, people in the UK can download the free app, called BBC Pandemic, via the App Store or Google Play.
If you live in Haslemere, Surrey, there’s also a ‘Haslemere Outbreak’ option built especially for your area.
The app tracks your approximate movements at regular intervals over a single 24 hour period, but for security reasons will never know exactly where or who you are.
It will also ask a few questions about your journeys and the people you spend time with to help researchers from the University of Cambridge and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to work out how a real flu pandemic might spread across the UK.
In a post on its website, a spokesperson for the BBC said: ‘There are flu outbreaks every year but in the last 100 years, there have been four pandemics of a particularly deadly flu, including the Spanish Influenza outbreak which hit in 1918, killing up to 100 million people worldwide.
The app tracks your approximate movements at regular intervals over a single 24 hour period, but for security reasons will never know exactly where or who you are
‘Nearly a century later, a catastrophic flu pandemic still tops the UK Government’s Risk Register of threats to this country.
‘Key to the Government’s response plan are mathematical models which simulate how a highly contagious disease may spread.
‘These models help to decide how best to direct NHS resources, like vaccines and protective clothing.
‘But the models are only as good as the data that goes into them.’
By identifying the human networks and behaviours that spread a deadly flu, BBC Pandemic will help to make these models more accurate and, in turn, help to stem the next pandemic
The more people of all ages that take part in BBC Pandemic, the better that data will be, according to the researchers.
By identifying the human networks and behaviours that spread a deadly flu, BBC Pandemic will help to make these models more accurate and, in turn, help to stem the next pandemic.
The results will be featured in a documentary on BBC Four in 2018, that will be presented by Dr Hannah Fry and Dr Javid Abdelmoneim.
In the hopes of preventing another pandemic disease from hitting, BBC Four has created a new app that tracks where users travel and interact