“A civic duty” for Prime Minister António Costa (who has already downloaded the application), “an exercise of responsibility”, for Health Minister Marta Temido (who has not yet managed to download it), an aberration for her detractors . The Stayaway Covid app was officially presented in Porto this Tuesday, but the application that allows you to track possible contacts with people infected with Covid-19 is already on the mobile phones of more than 80 thousand Portuguese.
The Government presented the application aimed at detecting potential exposures to people infected with Covid-19. According to the executive, its operation is simple: each user who has tested positive will be able to insert the test code in the app, after joining the application. After validation by the Directorate-General for Health, the application will alert other users who have been close to the infected user for a minimum of 15 minutes, always without revealing their identity.
During this morning's presentation, António Costa was concerned to explain that Stataway Covid is another instrument that, on the one hand, allows combating the expansion of the pandemic and breaking the contamination chains and, on the other hand, contributes to the return and social and economic openness may prevent a new severe confinement from becoming necessary.
"They should not be afraid of the application," said António Costa, since "each person decides whether to inform or not inform" if they are infected. And he stressed that the app is proof of any falsification, since "the contamination alert can only be given with a code that only a doctor can provide". It is, therefore, in his opinion “a way to prevent the pandemic from getting out of control”, being certain, as he admitted, that this is the risk that the country (like everyone else) faces at a time when “as we know, we are more sick during the cold months ”.
The Government approved in July the legislation that determines that the Directorate-General for Health is the entity responsible for processing the data generated by the application, with the online data being deleted when the system is closed, but being kept on a server of the National Press-Casa da Coin.
The app was developed by the Institute of Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science, an associated laboratory of the public system that offered it to the Health Government area at no cost.
The app will also be integrated with those of other European countries that operate according to the same model in the framework of the technical group eHealth Network and can be downloaded from the App Store and Google Play.
Stayaway Covid started reaching smartphones at the end of last week, first for the Android system and then for Apple equipment. According to known data, the application was one of the most sought after since it is available, which allows us to infer that the adhesion is reaching the goals that the Government proposed.
But the application has many detractors. The Left Block has already said that "The Association for the Defense of Digital Rights stresses that the application will send information to Apple and Google and points out that there is no legal framework for non-discrimination for not using the app". Several analysts have said that the app will induce policing, excessive surveillance - a kind of social gossip so much to the national taste - and will open the creation of a personal data exchange that is difficult to control.
Anyway, and according to technical analysis, not all devices are able to download the application. Marta Temido, who has not yet succeeded, admitted that the system “has limitations”, but is “fundamental” to help health technicians to control the expansion of Covid-19.
“A civic duty” for Prime Minister António Costa (who has already downloaded the application), “an exercise of responsibility”, for Health Minister Marta Temido (who has not yet managed to download it), an aberration for her detractors . The Stayaway Covid app was officially presented in Porto this Tuesday, but the application that allows you to track possible contacts with people infected with Covid-19 is already on the mobile phones of more than 80 thousand Portuguese.
The Government presented the application aimed at detecting potential exposures to people infected with Covid-19. According to the executive, its operation is simple: each user who has tested positive will be able to insert the test code in the app, after joining the application. After validation by the Directorate-General for Health, the application will alert other users who have been close to the infected user for a minimum of 15 minutes, always without revealing their identity.
During this morning's presentation, António Costa was concerned to explain that Stataway Covid is another instrument that, on the one hand, allows combating the expansion of the pandemic and breaking the contamination chains and, on the other hand, contributes to the return and social and economic openness may prevent a new severe confinement from becoming necessary.
"They should not be afraid of the application," said António Costa, since "each person decides whether to inform or not inform" if they are infected. And he stressed that the app is proof of any falsification, since "the contamination alert can only be given with a code that only a doctor can provide". It is, therefore, in his opinion “a way to prevent the pandemic from getting out of control”, being certain, as he admitted, that this is the risk that the country (like everyone else) faces at a time when “as we know, we are more sick during the cold months ”.
The Government approved in July the legislation that determines that the Directorate-General for Health is the entity responsible for processing the data generated by the application, with the online data being deleted when the system is closed, but being kept on a server of the National Press-Casa da Coin.
The app was developed by the Institute of Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science, an associated laboratory of the public system that offered it to the Health Government area at no cost.
The app will also be integrated with those of other European countries that operate according to the same model in the framework of the technical group eHealth Network and can be downloaded from the App Store and Google Play.
Stayaway Covid started reaching smartphones at the end of last week, first for the Android system and then for Apple equipment. According to known data, the application was one of the most sought after since it is available, which allows us to infer that the adhesion is reaching the goals that the Government proposed.
But the application has many detractors. The Left Block has already said that "The Association for the Defense of Digital Rights stresses that the application will send information to Apple and Google and points out that there is no legal framework for non-discrimination for not using the app". Several analysts have said that the app will induce policing, excessive surveillance - a kind of social gossip so much to the national taste - and will open the creation of a personal data exchange that is difficult to control.
Anyway, and according to technical analysis, not all devices are able to download the application. Marta Temido, who has not yet succeeded, admitted that the system “has limitations”, but is “fundamental” to help health technicians to control the expansion of Covid-19.