Australia’s COVID app
[tta_listen_btn]
A multi-million greenback Australian app used to trace COVID contacts has been decommissioned and branded “a failure” after figuring out solely two distinctive infections.
Well being Minister Mark Butler urged folks to delete the app, calling it a “colossal waste” of taxpayer’s cash.
COVIDsafe was beforehand touted “as important as placing on sunscreen” by former Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
However specialists had questioned the efficacy of the Bluetooth-based monitoring methodology.
The app, which was first launched in April 2020 and price $14m, was designed to assist handbook contract tracers determine optimistic COVID infections.
Butler, who has beforehand referred to as for the app to be scrapped, revealed that simply 17 shut contacts not discovered manually had been recognized since then.
“It’s clear this app failed as a public well being measure and that’s why we’ve acted to delete it,” he stated.
COVIDsafe was designed below the nation’s earlier authorities which refused assist from tech giants Apple and Google, whose contact-tracing system was adopted by greater than 50 jurisdictions globally.
It was thought-about a essential a part of the federal government’s technique to return to normality. Nevertheless, it was beset with technical difficulties from the beginning.
Bluetooth expertise required an iPhone to be unlocked for the app to work correctly and customers additionally needed to actively consent to their knowledge being added and used.
The app will formally be decommissioned on 16 August. Butler confirmed no customers’ knowledge can be retained.
Morrison beforehand referred to as the app a ticket to a COVID-safe Australia, saying: “It offers us safety as a nation.” (BBC)
