Japan's virus contact-tracing app gets 2.7 mil downloads in 3 days

[bluesky]

https://japantoday.com/category/nat...tracing-app-hits-2.7-mil.-downloads-in-3-days

Japan's virus contact-tracing app gets 2.7 mil downloads in 3 days
Today 04:02 pm JST 11 Comments


TOKYO
A free smartphone app which alerts users that they may have been in close proximity to someone infected with the coronavirus has seen 2.7 million downloads in the first three days since its launch, the health minister said Monday.

"The more people use the app, the more effective it becomes," Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Katsunobu Kato told a parliamentary committee.

Kato said maximum consideration has been given to protecting privacy and that users do not need to enter information personally identifying them.

The app was launched Friday, the same day when Japan completely lifted an advisory against cross-prefecture travel. The government hopes it will encourage more people suspecting they may be infected with the virus to go to hospitals or take polymerase chain reaction tests to contain its spread.

Technology experts say the app needs to be widely used in order to be truly effective as it requires the accumulation of a certain amount of contact data.

The government has not given a target percent for the app's usage, but overseas research shows that at least 60 percent of people in a country should use such a system to make it practical.

Meanwhile, Tokyo reported 29 new cases of infection on Monday.

© KYODO
https://go.injapan.com/v5q1lg

 

[8888888888888]

2.7 million is pretty too low for Japanese population.

 

[bluesky]

2.7 million is pretty too low for Japanese population.

2.7 million downloads only in three days. What are you talking about this population. It is out of context.

 

[UKBengali]

2.7 million downloads only in three days. What are you talking about this population. It is out of context.

He is right as Japan has a population of 125 million.

You would have expected 10s of millions of people to have downloaded it in 3 days.

 

[bluesky]

He is right as Japan has a population of 125 million.

You would have expected 10s of millions of people to have downloaded it in 3 days.

Are people in Japan suffering from the Pandemic that much? Japan has a very limited scale infection that has almost been under control, so people do not have the urge to download the app. This is very simple. They do not feel the urgency that is so real in the USA, Italy or UK.

 

[UKBengali]

Are people in Japan suffering from the Pandemic that much? Japan has a very limited scale infection that has almost been under control, so people do not have the urge to download the app. This is very simple. They do not feel the urgency that is so real in the USA, Italy or UK.

Only 1 in 2000 people are infected with the virus in the UK now and so it is pretty much gone from the community.

Every single day the infection drops by around 3% and so it is being driven to almost extinction in UK.

If an app was released in UK, 10s of millions would download it within a matter of weeks, that with a population half that of Japan.

 

[Ali Tariq]

Bugs force Japan gov't to temporarily shut down virus contact-tracing app

TOKYO - The Japanese government has pledged to fix within a week bugs that have caused its coronavirus contact-tracing smartphone app to be shut down, the health minister said Tuesday.

The free app, which was launched Friday and downloaded around 3.71 million times as of Tuesday morning, erroneously accepts ID numbers not issued by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, Katsunobu Kato, the minister responsible for the system, said at a press conference.

Photo taken June 19, 2020, in Tokyo shows a free smartphone application launched by the Japanese government, which alerts users that they may have been in close proximity to someone infected with the novel coronavirus. (Kyodo)
The issue has forced the ministry to temporarily stop the app from issuing alerts in any instance. People who test positive for the coronavirus are issued the so-called "processing numbers" that the app uses to confirm they have the virus.

When working, the app was created to alert people when they have been near someone infected with the coronavirus.

The issue is not expected to have caused false alerts, as those who enter nonexistent processing numbers are not deemed as having tested positive by the app.

The ministry will not issue processing numbers for the moment and aims to release an updated version of the app with fixes in a week.

The processing number issue is not the only problem, however. Other defects include the wrong download date being displayed, Kato said.

When individuals who have downloaded the app come into contact with one another at a distance of 1 meter or less for 15 minutes or more, their smartphones interact via Bluetooth and automatically log the event and encrypt the information.

The record will remain in their devices for up to 14 days before it is automatically invalidated. If a user tested positive for the coronavirus and registered as such with the app by typing in their processing number, others with the app installed on their phone who come into contact with the individual will receive an alert.

To alleviate privacy concerns, the registration of positive test results does not require names, phone numbers or other personal information of users to be entered.