The Slovenian government has successfully managed to push through a number of initiatives aimed at strengthening the country’s capabilities if it is faced with a second wave of COVID-19. Following protracted debates in the country’s parliament, lawmakers approved the proposals put forward by the executive regarding the future protection of jobs and the eventual introduction of a COVID contact tracing app.
The latter proved to be an especially hard sell – as has been the case in many other European countries. The need for an effective way to track and trace coronavirus infections has been widely recognized across the continent, but privacy concerns have remained dominant in many debates.
Nonetheless, some EU member states – most notably Germany – have already managed to widely introduce and make use of such an app. Now, Slovenia is also on the path towards creating an effective and smart track-and-trace system.
Laying the groundwork
Within its proposals put forward to parliament, the Slovenian government introduced a package that would lay the groundwork for the creation of the country’s own contact tracing app. Once it is developed and introduced it will be mandatory only for those who have been put into quarantine – but would also be recommended for use to everyone else.
When it is fully operational it would allow authorities to quickly find out who has been in contact with a COVID-19 positive person and place them into isolation. That way, they would quickly be able to sever the chain of transmission and reduce the strain on public health facilities in the event of a 2nd wave of the disease.
The concerns about using the app that were raised by lawmakers echo those of their colleagues from around the continent – namely about privacy issues and the potential for the creation of a constant surveillance police state. Nonetheless, a majority voted in favour of laying the groundwork for the creation of the app giving Slovenia a leg up in its preparation for a 2nd round against COVID-19.
Source: TheMayor.EU
