The Australian Government's COVIDSafe App has been downloaded 1 million times in a matter of hours.
Key points:
- More than 1 million Australians downloaded COVIDSafe between 6:00pm and 10:30pm
- The Government says it needs 40 per cent of Australians — or 10 million people — to use the app
- The Government has assured Australians the data the app collects is safe
The app was released at 6:00pm AEST on Sunday and by 10:30pm 1 million Australians had managed to download it from the app store.
Health Minister Greg Hunt lauded those who had rushed to embrace the contact-tracing technology.
"As at 10:30pm 1 million Australians have now downloaded and registered for the #CovidSafeapp — please join us and help protect ourselves, our families, each other but above all else our nurses and doctors," Mr Hunt wrote on Twitter.
Downloading the app is voluntary but the Government has previously said 40 per cent of Australians — or 10 million people — will need to take up the contact tracing app for it to be a success.
Using the app has been encouraged by Mr Hunt and Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who have both said the app will be a vital tool in helping Australia ease restrictions designed to stop the spread of coronavirus.
"It assists in the early alert and finding of people who may have been in contact with a person who is positive with a diagnosis," Mr Hunt told reporters on Sunday.
Mr Morrison moved to reassure the public on Sunday only health officers would have access to the data the app collected.
"It's another tool we need to get back to normal as much as we can," Mr Morrison said.
"No other government agency can use this information, no-one in the Commonwealth Government at all. And in state authorities, only the health officer can use it.
"Not the police, not the welfare people, nowhere else. Just the health officer."
Questions remain about the app's effectiveness on iPhones. Android owners can use their devices normally while the app runs in the background, but if the iPhone goes into low-power mode, it reduces the background app refresh and which may impact contract-tracing capabilities, Government Services Minister Stuart Robert said.
German app to have one major difference
Shortly after Australia launched COVIDSafe — which was based on Singapore's TraceTogether app — it was revealed Germany was gearing preparing its own contact-tracing software.
However, the German app is expected to store data on users' phones rather than on a central database.
Like Australia's, the German app will use Bluetooth to alert smartphone users when they have been in contact with someone infected with COVID-19.
Germany is among the nations hardest hit by coronavirus, with more than 157,000 confirmed cases and more than 5,800 deaths.
ABC/wires
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2020-04-26 20:53:03Z
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