StopCovid has only reported 14 cases of risk of contamination since it was put into service, the Secretary of State for Digital said on Tuesday, despite defending the contact tracing application against the coronavirus. StopCovid, installed on a mobile phone, allows a user who finds himself contaminated to anonymously warn other users he has recently encountered.
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But according to the assessment given by Cédric O during a press conference, only 68 people have used the application to date to prevent people they have encountered from being contaminated. And only 14 users of the application have received an alert message advising them that they have been in contact with one of these infected persons.
Far fewer downloads than in Germany
According to the Secretary of State, these figures do not call into question the usefulness of the application and are to be related in particular to the decrease in the prevalence of the virus. "We only test around 30 people a day in Paris today," he said.
The number of downloads of the application remains low compared to, for example, Germany or the equivalent application has been downloaded 10 million times, he acknowledged. According to Cédric O, StopCovid has been downloaded 1.9 million times, but it has been uninstalled 460,000 times, i.e. a maximum number of users between 1.4 and 1.5 million nationwide.
The difference with Germany "says nothing in my personal opinion" about the French application itself, but "most probably says about our cultural differences, our differences in behavior in the face of the epidemic" and "possibly, the difference in appreciation of government behavior during the epidemic, "said Cédric O.
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Cédric O defends the choices made
The Secretary of State said he does not regret any of the choices that have been made on StopCovid, believing that it will regain its usefulness if the epidemic gains strength. "We are currently in a fairly low prevalence phase of the epidemic, but everyone is considering" the possibility of a second wave, according to him.
The Secretary of State also provided figures on the costs of the application, with a monthly cost oscillating between a minimum of 80,000 euros in July, and a maximum of 120,000 in December (IT hosting and maintenance and development).
"This cost will increase" if there is a second wave, said Cédric O. The budget presented plans in addition to optional expenses "user support support" of 50,000 euros per month and "related to deployment" of 30,000 euros per month.