The government of Cyprus is encouraging citizens to make use of a locally developed phone app that helps locate people who have made contact with a carrier of the Covid-19 virus.
Cyprus’s Ministry for Research, Innovation and Digital Policy announced the launch of the COVTRACER app that uses GPS information to track individuals’ daily movement. The app was developed in partnership with a state-funded research centre.
READ MORE: We asked experts for their opinion on the COVIDSafe App: Is it a game-changer?
The ministry said that the use of the app was “strictly voluntary” and only mobile phone users could make the data available to the health authorities.
Information is stored on the user’s phone log and would be available for users who test positive to Covid-19 to share with the island-nation’s public health authorities.
The public health authorities would be able to use the data to trace anyone who had been close to an infected person.
READ MORE: telehealth allows Victorian families to see their doctors from home