Can Australia's coronavirus contact tracing app COVIDSafe lift the country out of lockdown?
ABCTo speed up the process of contacting people who may have been exposed to coronavirus, the Federal Government is asking Australians to download its new COVIDSafe app. "If 40 per cent of people download the app, and if we're optimistic, half of those people are using it properly at all times — including having it running and open in the foreground on iPhones — then the likelihood of actually identifying a contact in a random encounter is 4 per cent," he said. Health Department spokesperson Vincent Tulley said information collected via the app will be checked by a public health official "to verify if a person deemed a close contact, is at risk". "It's all about a false sense of security … if we all download the app, then we can go and watch some sports together, or if we all download the app, then I don't need to stand 1.5 metres away from people," Dr Dunn said. Ultimately, a contact tracing app is "part of a bundle" of ways to address the pandemic, according to Dale Fisher, a professor in infectious diseases at the National University of Singapore.