A new Covid-19 tracker app has been downloaded by more than 862,000 people
since it went live yesterday.
The Department of Health and the Health Service Executive launched the app
to help identify close contacts of people who test positive for the disease.
Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said: "This is one more example
of the solidarity and collective spirit that has characterised the Irish
public's response to Covid-19 to date.
"The app is an important tool to support our contact tracing systems. It has
the potential to reduce the time that people are active in the community
with infection, which will have a significant impact on the transmission of
the disease.
"The more people who download and use this app, the more effective it will
be. It is a further opportunity for us to play our part in the response to
Covid-19."
Earlier, HSE Chief Executive Officer Paul Reid said the app can mean a
reduction in the time it takes to trace close contacts from days to hours.
The app identifies a close contact as someone who was within two metres of a
confirmed case for 15 minutes or more.
While health officials are looking to get around a 60% uptake of the app
among the target population, they say that any level of uptake will be
useful.
The HSE said that while the app is an all-island application, it is not
currently active in Northern Ireland.
The app launched yesterday morning and is expected to facilitate contact
tracing, symptom tracking and contain other information about the virus and
was officially launched by Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly.
One of the ways by which the virus is tracked is by tracing close contacts
of people who themselves test positive.
The Covid-19 tracker app is designed to help with both contact tracing and
real-time symptom tracking.
Minister Donnelly said the new app will not tell you whether you have tested
positive for coronavirus.
But if you do receive a positive test result, you can give the app
permission to notify those with whom you have been in close contact, so they
can then avail of testing, too.
Mr Donnelly said the app will allow people to control their own data.
He described it as a "very powerful tool" and said health officials will
encourage
<https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/0706/1151710-government-advice-for-people-to-a
void-all-non-essential/> as many people as possible to download it onto
their phones.
He said the majority of people who have smartphones will be able to use it,
but there is a limitation in the technology and it only works on the iPhone
6 and Android 7 and upwards models.
Speaking on RTÉ's Six One, Mr Donnelly said that if enough people download
the app it would facilitate the reopening of schools and people returning to
work.
Mr Donnelly said it will also help with efforts to get the healthcare system
to return to normal.
In the event of increased outbreaks of the virus, the Minister said that the
app will seriously increase the ability to get to people who are close
contacts and to get them the clinical guidance that they need.
Meanwhile, a public health specialist has encouraged everyone to download
the app as part of efforts to contribute to the effectiveness of the contact
tracing programme and to keep the virus suppressed.
Dr Sarah Doyle, of the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, told RTÉ's
News at One that if you get a positive test result and agree to the app
being linked into, a contact tracing mechanism is used to access and
identify contacts who were within two metres of you for more than 15
minutes.
These contacts will have been stored in the app through a "decentralised
model" of Bluetooth that stores anonymous codes to recognise users and are
deleted after 14 days, she said.
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