Australia introduces App in tracing coronavirus contacts

Australia has introduced a smartphone app to trace people who come in contact with coronavirus patients in defiance of privacy standards which Australian authorities said Sunday were unwarranted.

It was highlighted that the COVID Safe app uses a phone’s Bluetooth wireless signal to store information about people’s interactions, and can be accessed by health officials if a person contracts coronavirus.

Australia’s chief medical officer Brendan Murphy said the app would speed up a “laborious process” for health authorities tracking down users who have been within 1.5 metres of someone who has the virus.

The chief medical officer explained: “What this will do is give a list of the mobile phone numbers of those people who have been in contact within that distance for 15 minutes or more.

“That could lead to someone being contacted a day or two earlier than they otherwise may have been.”

Australia has recorded over 6,700 cases of COVID-19 and 83 deaths from coronavirus.