The French coronavirus tracking app, StopCovid, is due to be rolled out at midday today, local time. It will allow anyone who is diagnosed with Covid-19 to warn those with whom they have been in contact in the previous two weeks so they can be tested if they develop symptoms.
Cédric O, France’s secretary of state for the economy responsible for digital technology, said the government wanted to encourage people to download the app, particularly those living in cities where contacts, especially on public transport, are of concern.
Announcing a further easing of lockdown restrictions last week, the Prime Minister Édouard Philippe said the government “guaranteed” that the app would not infringe people’s privacy or be used to collect data on geolocalisation. France’s highest authority for the protection of privacy and data has approved StopCovid and the parliament approved its use last week. “It is an instrument for fighting the virus, not a weapon,” Philippe said.
Apple and Google launched the first contact tracing application API late last month but France, keen not to rely on the US technology giants and wishing to retain “national sovereignty” over the process, developed StopCovid as an independent project. Apple and Google reportedly offered to work with the French government, which turned down the offer considering the companies posed data protection risks. Apple then refused to help with a means of allowing the Bluetooth to work on its phones while the StopCovid app is closed (on iPhones, Bluetooth works only when the app is open).
Cedric O accused the US companies of not cooperating. “Apple could have helped us make it work even better on the iPhone. They didn’t want to do that, for a reason that I can’t quite understand,” he said. “That a large company that has never done so well in economic terms does not help a government fight the crisis, we will have to remember that when the time comes.”
StopCovid will alert anyone who has had “prolonged contact” – meaning more than 15 minutes at less than 1m distance – with a person with Covid-19.
