Coronavirus contact-tracing apps will be rolled out in Europe and Australia in the next two to four weeks, officials say.
Germany’s health minister Jens Spahn said his country’s app would be ready to download in three to four weeks.
Meanwhile, Australia and Denmark plan to push out apps within two weeks.
Australian prime minister Scott Morrison said using the app would be voluntary to begin with – but he did not rule out making it compulsory.
Contact-tracing apps are being developed by several countries around the world.
They typically use Bluetooth or satellite location data to record who a person has been in close proximity to.
That information can then be used to notify app-users if someone they have met becomes ill with Covid-19, and declares their status in the app.
But such tracking technology has raised concerns that it could be misused for mass surveillance, given the large proportion of the population who must install it for it to work effectively.
Australia’s rapid development is partly down to basing it on an existing app called TraceTogether, which has already been deployed in Singapore.
Mr Morrison said his government was finalising the legal issues surrounding privacy.
He declined to say whether using the app would be made mandatory in the future.
“I will be calling on Australians to do it, frankly, as a matter of national service,” Mr Morrison told Triple M radio.
“This would be something they might not normally do in an ordinary time, but this is not an ordinary time.
“If you download this app, you’ll be helping to save someone’s life.”
Source: BBC
