100 days of the Corona-Warn-App
The Corona-Warn-App has now been downloaded more than 18 million times. It is helping fight the COVID-19 pandemic – and as we move into autumn it will become increasingly important. At a press conference, the German government and developers have taken stock. The initial results are positive – the app is working.
2 Min. Lesedauer
Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (at left) and Helge Braun, Head of the Federal Chancellery, on Wednesday in Berlin
Foto: Bundesregierung/Bergmann
100 days ago, the German government’s Corona-Warn-App was launched. The app is not intended to be a panacea in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, but it has proved to be an important digital tool that helps efforts to contain the pandemic. This was also underscored by Helge Braun, Head of the Federal Chancellery, at a press conference in Berlin. The German government is delighted that the app has been downloaded over 18 million times – it is currently still being downloaded from app stores every two seconds. Making the app available in app stores outside Germany has also proved valuable. "More than 400,000 users have downloaded the app from app stores outside Germany so that they can then use it in Germany," reported Helge Braun. As autumn begins, he once again urged everyone with contacts to many other people to download the app.
The Corona-Warn-App - facts and figures
The diagram is entitled "100 days of the Corona-Warn-App". Below the heading on a red background it reads: Downloaded 18,418,805 times (number of active users), 1.2 million test results uploaded, 5,000 users have shared their positive test results, The Corona- Warn-App is downloaded every 2 seconds
Foto: Bundesregierung
Maximum data privacy
In the view of Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn, the Corona-Warn-App is one of the most successful apps anywhere in the world. "People want it, it works and it is helping prevent infections," he declared. The main focus is of course to warn people who may have been exposed to the risk of infection. But the programme offers more: to date more than 1.2 million test results have been uploaded to the app directly by laboratories. "In Berlin alone, more than 50 per cent of the COVID-19 test results were shared via the app last week," reported Jens Spahn on Wednesday. More than 5,000 users of the app have so far used it to share positive test results with other users. This is an area where the Federal Health Minister still sees scope for improvement. He pointed out once again that Corona-Warn-App complies with the strictest data privacy regulations. "Nobody is informed when and with whom the encounter took place that constitutes a risk," he stressed.
You can watch a video showing extracts from the press conference here.
European solution for Warn-App
Tim Höttges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom AG, provided an update of the next development stages for the Corona-Warn-App. It is currently a purely national solution, but over the last few weeks a European Gateway has been tested. This would soon allow the apps used in many of our neighbouring countries to recognise one another, and share information regarding encounters. This could then be used when travelling to other European countries. The EU is counting on the expertise of the same German companies that developed the Corona-Warn-App.
You will find FAQs about the Corona-Warn-App here.