Over 1 million Australians download virus app

Published
0

Australian officials are pleased that more than a million people have downloaded an app designed to accelerate contact tracing for coronavirus despite some privacy concerns.

Within 12 hours of the Australian-developed COVIDsafe app becoming available late on Sunday, 1.13 million of Australias 26 million population had downloaded it onto their smart phones.

Chief Health Officer Damian Murphy has said that he was really excited by the app's early popularity.

If users of COVIDsafe are diagnosed with the virus, they can upload the apps encrypted data logs, which identify other users who have been in close proximity for 15 minutes or more in the previous three weeks.

Read more details here.

Opinion

Editorial

Yemen offensive
Updated 04 Oct, 2026

Yemen offensive

The best option, therefore, is for Muslim and Arab states to help restore the Saudi-Houthi ceasefire.
Growth transition
04 Oct, 2026

Growth transition

PRIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s recent call to move from stabilisation to growth, job creation and export ...
Protection at risk
04 Oct, 2026

Protection at risk

THE recent warning from UNHCR should alarm donor governments. Nearly 8.3m refugees and other forcibly displaced...
Talks, at last
Updated 03 Oct, 2026

Talks, at last

The government’s constant threats to suspend KP’s elected dispensation over a political protest have escalated hostilities considerably. In that context, both sides did well to start talking.
IWT’s future
Updated 03 Oct, 2026

IWT’s future

TOGETHER with the Kashmir dispute, India’s unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty has become the biggest...
Pained minds
03 Oct, 2026

Pained minds

IN Pakistan, mental healthcare is wedged between two extremes — a luxury or a stigma. Estimates cited by the...