In Germany, a new app uses Bluetooth to log a user's proximity to other phones. Users then receive a message if they've been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.
Doctors would be able to use the system by getting permission from those who test positive and putting their information into a central server.
The ability to track down those at risk of infection more accurately could make it possible to ease countrywide lockdowns that have brought economic activity to a near halt, the app's creators say.The platform would make anonymous use of Bluetooth technology, without storing data from location tracking — thereby bringing it within the strict requirements of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation.
There are, as of Thursday, more than 80,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus infection in Germany, with more than 960 deaths. Some Asian countries have used smartphones to track the spread of the coronavirus and enforce quarantine orders, although the Asian countries' methods would violate stringent European data protection rules.
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