Poland working on ProteGo app that could help slow down coronavirus spread

Technology is an important aspect of tackling the current Coronavirus pandemic. Relaying reliable information swiftly and ensuring that updates about the virus and related statistics are being propagated as crucial. Additional steps are also being taken to ensure that regions and people affected by the pandemic can keep themselves safe. Countries worldwide are employing mobile apps that can help users find out whether they have come in contact with someone who tested coronavirus positive. 

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Poland working on smartphone app to detect and limit coronavirus spread 

Poland’s Ministry of Digital Affairs has announced that they are working on a new smartphone application that can help people during the pandemic. As per the ministry’s blog post, the app is called ProteGo and it could warn people if they have come in close contact with someone infected with the coronavirus. The app will make use of Bluetooth on smartphones to ascertain if one has come in close proximity with someone who has tested positive for the Coronavirus. 

ProteGo app to use Bluetooth for helping people fight coronavirus

The initiative could help the government halt or slow down the spread of the novel coronavirus. The data collected by the app is said to be encrypted and stored for two weeks but the ministry clarifies that the app will not collect users’ data or track their location. Someone who tests positive for Coronavirus can change their status in the app anonymously and anyone who came in contact with them over the past two weeks would be notified about the possible risk and will be asked to self-quarantine. 

“ProteGO is an application designed to overcome the most severe restrictions implemented to fight the coronavirus pandemic. The purpose of this solution is to control the spread of the disease. We want to achieve this by building – through Bluetooth technology – a specific network of connections between users of mobile phones. The application will not collect their data or track their location,” the ministry says in a blog post. 

The government also published the app’s source code online to get an opinion of others before implementing it. As per the latest numbers on the Covid-19 tracker by John Hopkins University, there are 3,874 active cases of coronavirus in Poland with 134 recoveries and 94 deaths. 

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