Canada is introducing a contact tracing smartphone app that will notify Canadians of exposure to the new coronavirus.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday the app will be voluntary and that if someone tests positive, other users who have the app and have been in proximity will then be alerted they’ve been exposed to someone who has tested positive.
Trudeau said privacy will be respected.
“At no time will personal information be collected or shared, and no location services will be used,” Trudeau said.
Governments around the world have been turning to smartphone technology to help battle fresh virus flare-ups as they ease lockdown restrictions.
But technical problems and privacy concerns have dogged the development of virus tracing apps.
Health authorities in Britain announced Thursday they are scrapping plans to launch their own coronavirus contact tracing smartphone app because of technical problems and will now work on building one using technology supplied by Apple and Google.
Other European nations such as Switzerland, Germany and Italy, are using a “decentralised” approach based on the Apple-Google smartphone interface, which experts say is better for privacy because it keeps data on phones.
