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 The latest apps have big advantages over earlier ones as they work
on Apple's iPhone, one of the most popular smartphones in Europe,
and do not rely on centralized databases that could compromise
privacy.
Switzerland, Latvia and Italy have opted for Bluetooth short-range
radio for their apps, based on technology from Apple and Google that
securely logs exchanges on the smartphones of people who have been
near each other.
Around 30% of smartphones in Europe run on Apple's iOS operating
system, with nearly all of the rest using Google's Android. Together
they host 99% of the world's smartphones.
"The fundamental challenge will be if the second wave comes," said
Ingmars Pukis, a board member at mobile network operator LMT, which
is backing the Latvian app.
"We hope we will be ready with sufficient functionality and
penetration to manage a future outbreak," Pukis said.
Dozens of countries have launched or plan contact tracing apps using
either Bluetooth or location-tracking technology to notify people
quickly of possible coronavirus exposure, with China, South Korea
and India using more invasive approaches.
However, developers of the Swiss-Covid app hope to show that it can
contribute to Switzerland's broader "test, trace, isolate and
quarantine" strategy, without even knowing where people come into
contact.
The Bluetooth-based app is now being trialled after army volunteers
tested whether it could work in settings such as a cafeteria lunch,
a train journey, a shop queue or a house party.
The Swiss app is intended to complement manual contact tracing, with
a phone call from a tracer as well as an app notification providing
double confirmation that a person is at risk.
"Hopefully there will be a strong overlap," said Marcel Salathe, a
digital epidemiologist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
in Lausanne.
Several other countries, including Estonia, Finland, Ireland and
Portugal, are working on similar decentralized apps.
There are still potential flaws as Bluetooth was not originally
designed to accurately measure distance. And while mass public
take-up is needed for such apps to work, relatively few elderly
people, who are at greatest risk, have smartphones.
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Latvia is bolting on extra features, with users getting an exposure notification
given the option to share their number and get a call from a contact tracer. In
a delicate trade-off between privacy and utility, it will be possible in a
planned update to share health symptoms and receive advice.
SUPER-SPREADING
The first generation of contact tracing apps rushed out in March and April had
little impact and raised privacy alarms, with Australia's requiring people to
register their name and phone number, something Apple refused to support.
Although the Australian app has been downloaded nearly 6 million times, reports
and government statements last month said it has only helped trace a single
case.
Germany's Covid-Warn-App, due out in mid-June, seeks to rule out such privacy
risks from the outset.
"There is no symptom sharing. No data collection. All data is pseudonymous,"
said Harald Lindlar of Deutsche Telekom, which is working with SAP on the app.
Italy has launched a similarly minimalist app, called Immuni, in four regions.
France, by contrast, has gone live with a centralized app, despite the lack of
Apple support.
Apple and Google said when they released their toolkit for Bluetooth apps last
month that authorities in 23 countries had sought access to it. Early adopters
Singapore and Australia are considering shifting to their joint standard.
Austria's Stopp Corona, Europe's first Bluetooth app which has had 600,000
downloads, is one which upgrading to conform to the Google-Apple framework.
"Things could change quickly in the case of a renewed outbreak that we must at
all costs prevent - this is where the app can provide ideal support," Michael
Zettel, Austria chief at consulting group Accenture, told Reuters.
"The app makes a lot of sense - for example in churches, clubs and sports teams.
It can help quickly to contain super-spreading events," Zettel added.
(Additional reporting by Kirsti Knolle, Nadine Schimroszik, Gederts Gelzis and
Elvira Pollina; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Alexander Smith)
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