Million Australians download virus tracing app
Greater than a million Australians have downloaded a coronavirus contact tracing iphone app within hours of it released by the government.
The COVIDSafe smartphone iphone app runs on the Bluetooth wireless signal to switch a "digital handshake" with another user if they come within 1.5m (4.9ft).
The app then logs this contact and encrypts it.
Users will be notified if indeed they have had a lot more than a quarter-hour of close connection with another user who tests positive.
Australia has recorded 6,694 confirmed coronavirus cases and 80 deaths from the virus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The rise in infections has slowed considerably in recent weeks, however, with just 16 new cases recorded on Sunday.
The app - predicated on one introduced in Singapore - went live at 1800 local time on Sunday (0900 BST), and Health Minister Greg Hunt confirmed the download figures on Sunday night.
"As at 10:30 PM, 1 million Australians have finally downloaded and registered for the #COVIDSafeapp - please join us and help protect ourselves, our families, one another but most of all our nurses and doctors," Mr Hunt wrote on Twitter.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said social restrictions could possibly be eased if enough people use the app. The federal government has said that for maximum effectiveness, some 40% of the population would have to download it.
Amid privacy concerns about who'll have access to the app's placed data, the federal government said only state health authorities would qualify. The info will be kept in Australia, and medical minister said "not a court order" allows other authorities including the police to access it.
The protections have not yet been placed into legislation, however, as Australia's Parliament isn't sitting regularly.
The app asks users to provide how old they are range, a mobile number, a post code and a name - which is often a pseudonym.
The government said all data will be wiped after 21 days, or when someone deleted the iphone app from their phone.
On Sunday, the Australian states of Queensland and Western Australia said they would relax social distancing rules this week to permit larger outdoor gatherings - but the state of Victoria will continue with stricter curbs.
