The Government app that will help track the contacts of people affected by the new coronavirus is now available in the official application stores. Radar Covid already works in several communities and will be open for download throughout Spain on September 15.
The application, which was experimentally tested in July on the island of La Gomera, revealed that 78% of simulated infections reported positive within 24 hours. However, Health reports that for this application to be effective there must be a generalized installation among the population.
You can install it here for
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=es.gob.radarcovid
And here for iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/es/app/radar-covid/id1520443509
How the app works
RadarCOVID, according to the Government, follows the most guaranteed technical standards with the privacy of users in compliance with all the recommendations made by the European Commission. In this way, no user can be identified or located because there is no data registered and because the whole process takes place on their phone without going to any server. Both the use of the app and the communication of a possible contagion will always be voluntary.
The application uses the terminal’s Bluetooth connection, through which mobile phones emit and observe anonymous identifiers of other phones that change periodically. When two terminals have been close for 15 minutes or more, two meters or less apart, they both store the anonymous identifier issued by the other.
If any user were diagnosed positive for COVID-19 after undergoing a PCR test, they would decide whether to give their consent so that, through the health system, an anonymous notification can be sent. In this way, the mobiles that had been in contact with the patient would receive a warning about the risk of possible contagion and instructions would be provided on how to proceed. By not requesting data of any kind, it is impossible to identify or locate any user in any way.
Currently, the European Commission is developing the legal and technical framework that enables interoperability between applications based on the decentralized model, such as RadarCOVID, so that they can continue to function beyond the borders of each State.
