SYDNEY: Australia has launched a smartphone app to trace people who come in contact with corona virus patients despite privacy concerns that authorities insisted Sunday were unwarranted.
The COVIDSafe app uses a phone's Bluetooth wireless signal to store information about people's interactions, and can be accessed by health officials if a person contracts corona virus.
Australia's chief medical officer Brendan Murphy said the app would speed up a "laborious process" for health authorities tracking down users who have been within 1.5 metres of someone who has the virus.
"What this will do is give a list of the mobile phone numbers of those people who have been in contact within that distance for 15 minutes or more," he said.
"That could lead to someone being contacted a day or two earlier than they otherwise may have been."
Australia has recorded just over 6,700 cases of COVID-19 and 83 deaths from the virus.
The rise in infections has slowed considerably in recent weeks, with just 16 new cases recorded across the country Sunday.
Health officials say widespread take-up of the app would help them to ease tough restrictions on movement and gatherings. Just under half of Australia's population would need to download the program for it to be an effective tool.
Australia has recorded just over 6,700 cases of COVID-19 and 83 deaths from the virus.
In the United States, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden cited contact tracing as part of a plan "to safely reopen America" along with expanded testing and other steps.
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