Poland is working on an application to monitor the spread of the novel coronavirus using smartphones. As far as is known, it is the second European country that will use bluetooth signals to keep track of people’s proximity and thus trace the infections.
Smartphones (pic: wikimedia)
Because the smartphones interact via the bluetooth signals, the app is able to alert people when they get too close to each other. The collected data is stored encrypted for two weeks.
If a user reports in the app that he/she is infected with the novel corona virus, other users will be notified. They do not see which person has contracted the virus, but they are warned in this way.
The Polish Ministry of Digital Affairs said in a statement on Friday that the app is not used to collect personal data from citizens or determine their location. It is unclear when the ProteGO app will be availabl