Maltese in the quarter that downloaded the Gold-19 warning app

A quarter of Malta have downloaded the COVID-19 warning app, Health Superintendent Charmaine Cucci said.

Since its launch in September, it has received 84,210 downloads, which is 17.4% of the population.

A free utility called COVID Alert Malta will let you know if you have recently been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 using Bluetooth communication tracking.

This allows the virus to be tracked more efficiently, providing a tool for health officials to communicate with people and notify them of any improvements.

If you are in favor of COVID-19, the authorities will send you the code you entered in your application, which will be disclosed to other application users.

There are 337 positive cases that have used the app to notify others. According to officials, the contacts in these cases are calling the COVID-19 Helpline 11 to request tests.

Globally, download rates for contact-tracking applications are poor, with an average download rate of 20%.

Malta is slightly above Italy, registering 14%. In Germany, 21% downloaded the app, compared to just 3% in France. Iceland and Singapore, one of the first countries to come out with apps, boast maximum download rates of 40%.

High download rates are important for effective use because you need a lot of people to keep the application to increase the chances of the computer interacting with someone who has the virus.

Although Malta gets 20% of its population in use, there is only a 4% chance of interacting with another application user. If it doubles to 40%, you have a 16% chance of meeting another application user.

Have you downloaded the app?