Germany launched its own national contact tracing app this week in a bid to curb the spread of the coronavirus as the country began to gradually ease restrictions. A day after the launch of the app “Corona-Warn” it has 6,5 millions downloads.
German Health Minister Jens Spahn Reported on Twitter that the number shows confidence in technology and urged citizens to participate in the "team game" to contain the virus.
Announcing the Corona-Warn app in a press conference, Spahn said: "The app is not a panacea, but an important tool for curbing the virus. "The best way to do that is to get a lot of people involved."
With 6,5 million users, the app has dropped from 7,8% of the German population in just 24 hours. By contrast, the French app StopCovid has dropped by 2% of the population since its release earlier this month. Italians have a percentage of 3,5% with the Immuni application two weeks after the release of the application.
The Corona-Warn app was developed in six weeks by a team of developers at Deutsche Telekom and the software company SAP. Christian Klein, CEO of SAP, praised the outcome of the partnership:
"50 days, great teams, great collaboration - #CoronaWarnApp is now available", Reported in a Tweet. "Together we can reduce the further spread of COVID-19 in Germany."
Corona-Warn is developed using Bluetooth-enabled contact tracking APIs developed jointly by Apple and Google. The API is designed to maintain the privacy of users by limiting the amount of personal data processed.
Η Apple and Google provide an alert box to each application that uses the API. The API transmits a random ID while simultaneously scanning and locally storing the IDs of other phones using Bluetooth Low Energy (LE). The ID is only valid for up to 20 minutes before it is changed.
If a user tests positive for the coronavirus, they will receive a QR code along with their results, which allows identifiers to be displayed. In turn the infected user's ID will generate a warning about the Appliances who are near him.
