After numerous debates, including in Parliament, the Stop Covid application is now downloadable by the French. The objective is to allow each user who is contaminated by the coronavirus to warn the people he has encountered, completely anonymously. Since this week, a similar system, "Alertanoo" (which means "let us alert" in Creole) has been implemented on the island of Reunion.
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"It has become a reflex"
At the entrance to a black supermarket full of people, the first reflex of Jessica, who has always been from Réunion, is to activate the application. Its use is extremely simple: just activate its Bluetooth. "Then I put my phone in my bag and go shopping," says Jessica. "At the start, it was a bit complicated," she admits at the microphone of Europe 1, "but it became a reflex".
No name or address to enter: "Alertanoo", like StopCovid, is completely anonymous. When a person is sick, his doctor gives him a code to write on his phone, which will then anonymously warn people crossed, say "contact people", explains the website of the platform. Persons receiving a notification are then invited to be screened to stem the spread of the epidemic.
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"Medical secrecy is kept since we cannot trace the person"
Everything is anonymous, but above all, everything is local. This is the strength of this system, explains Philippe Arnaud, one of the developers of the application. "This completes the contact-tracing activity which is carried out by the ARS in Reunion", he underlines at the microphone of Europe 1. "The entire application is managed from servers in Reunion for come up with a solution that guarantees the most privacy for people. "
The Beta version of Alertanoo, Covid-19 “exposure notification” application, created BY the Reunionese and FOR the Reunionese, is available for download for Android phones. https://t.co/Ogj2gdvQuApic.twitter.com/lMECV8P5Se
- Eco austral (@Ecoaustral) May 25, 2020The effectiveness of the application will depend on the number of downloads
Confidence precisely, a sine qua non condition on the island. That's what got the approval of doctors like Christine Kowalczyk. "We asked them some very pointed questions (to the developers of the application, note ) and they explained us well," she said at the microphone of Europe 1, reassured. "The medical secret is kept since we cannot go back to the person. This is what is extremely important".
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For the moment, no patient has reported on the application, and like StopCovid, its usefulness will be conditioned by the number of downloads. To be effective in Reunion, "Alertanoo" should be downloaded by 400,000 people, but only 4,000 islanders have already installed it on their phones.