Coronavirus: Australians massively download COVIDSafe tracking application

Australian Minister of Health Greg Hunt has repeatedly pointed out that COVIDSafe does not allow geolocation. REUTERS / Loren Elliott

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In less than 48 hours, the Australian government's online coronavirus tracking application has been downloaded over two million times. As in France, there have been debates on the protection of privacy, but the Australians seem to consider that stopping the spread of the virus takes precedence over the use of their data.

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In just over 48 hours, nearly two million Australians downloaded a smartphone app to track contacts with people diagnosed with coronavirus, the government said. Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt described  how his compatriots adopted the app launched on Sunday evening as extraordinary ". 

COVIDSafe aims to help authorities find everyone who has been within 1.5 meters of someone with the virus. Australia, with 25 million people, has just over 6,700 cases from Covid-19.

I have never seen such a basic app. Just install it, activate the bluetooth, then I had to give my name, my phone number and my postal code…

Report to the first users

Grégory Plesse

Health officials argue that only massive use will lift some of the movement and assembly restrictions ordered as part of the fight against the epidemic. They explained that the application would become an effective tool as soon as half of the population used it. Its use is free and on a voluntary basis.

The application does not allow geolocation

Greg Hunt has repeatedly stressed that COVIDSafe does not allow geolocation and that only health authorities would use the data when people are concerned about the use that the Conservative government could make of it. It is simply a matter of helping us find and alert anyone who may have been exposed to the virus,  " the Australian Minister of Health told Sky News. It means they can be diagnosed and protected sooner and it can protect our nurses and doctors, the elderly and the most vulnerable Australians  ," he said.

In addition to this application, the Australian authorities have intensified their campaign to detect the new coronavirus. Tests are available to anyone with flu-like symptoms.

(With AFP)

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