What is the History of Contact Tracing

Contact tracing is seen as a way out of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, where it involves tracking individuals who may have come into contact with infected individuals who have the virus. While technology, particularly mobile phones, are seen as the key to making modern contact tracing work, in the past other forms of contact tracing were employed. Much of the current approach to contact tracing, in fact, is based on the historical development of this idea.