Privacy versus safety in contact-tracing apps for coronavirus disease 2019
Pierfrancesco Lapolla, Regent Lee · Digital Health · 2020
With a view to a gradual exit from lockdown, governments around the world are considering deploying contact-tracing apps to prevent or manage a second wave of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Through smartphones, contact-tracing apps can identify people who may have come in contact with an infected person. Based on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and with optional geo-localisation (GPS), this technology can track people’s movements. When an infected subject is close enough to another person, the latter becomes a potential infected case who can be contacted and tracked. The aim is to isolate the potentially infected cases to reduce the spread of COVID-19