Beyond tracing close contacts of people with Covid-19 or other diseases, Sengkang General Hospital uses its real-time locating system for other purposes, like tracking equipment.

Wheelchairs and infusion pumps, for example, are tagged so that staff can easily keep tabs on where these items are, and find out if there is a shortage.

This cuts down on the need for time-consuming manual checks. The hospital also does not need to buy so much equipment to keep as spares in case items cannot be quickly found at a moment's notice, it told The Straits Times.

Some Covid-19 contact tracing solutions are also being used for non-pandemic purposes.

Supply chain solutions company TagBox developed contact tracing tags for construction workers last year under the Infocomm Media Development Authority's crowdsourcing initiative called Open Innovation Platform.

It is now testing the solution at two construction sites to track staff and equipment, as well as using software to alert supervisors if staff or equipment are in forbidden work zones.

There are also discussions with the public and private sectors on using the software to improve safety, by alerting supervisors when workers enter an area with a high fall risk.

Technology firm TraceSafe is planning to add alarm features with sounds and vibrations to alert workers about dangerous zones and areas they are not supposed to be in, when it starts to deploy its contact tracing tool across five construction sites from the middle of next month.

It announced this month that it had signed a global deal with cruise line company Royal Caribbean - which has sailings from Singapore - to roll out the contact tracing solution in its ships.

Aside from Covid-19 tracing, the wristband device, that is expected to be used, can be tapped for contactless entry to passenger cabins and payment at eateries on board the ship.