Last week, at a press conference the results of the first phase of a new Covid-19 tracking app called Radar COVID were announced. Carme Artigas, the State Secretary of Digitization and AI called the pilot project a success and declared that it will unfold to its next stage where it will become available to the general public, which is already the case and the app can now be downloaded on the two major mobile platforms.
The app combines safety and privacy
The testing phase was carried out among users on the Canary island of La Gomera, which is one of the most isolated places in Spain. This stage concluded on 31 July after a month of experimental drills which imitated four waves of the coronavirus pandemic.
The results were that more than 60 000 people downloaded the test version of the app, even if the goal was to only concentrate on getting 3000 users in La Gomera. The app showed that on average 6.4 people who had been in close contact with a positive case were reached, compared to the 3.5 contacts average achieved by the health services manual tracing in the Canary Islands.
The app has been received quite positively among the test group, with all participants saying they will continue using when it is available on a national level. The reason for this is not only its proven efficiency towards keeping the public informed about their risk of contagion but also the fact that it guarantees anonymity.
The way Radar COVID works is through the connectivity of Bluetooth technology.
For example, the phones of two persons who have downloaded the app will exchange coded messages, but only when the users were in proximity of less than 2 metres for a minimum of 15 minutes. If a person tests positive for Covid-19, they can volunteer to log this info in their phone which will notify all other phones that have been in proximity during the last 2 weeks.
The notification, however, will be coded and will not reveal any personal data or the location of the infected person preserving their privacy while informing others of their risk and giving them advice on how to proceed.
Source: TheMayor.EU
