With the initiative of the Ministry of Health, an innovative STOP COVID application got created with the aim of early detection and prevention of the virus. The government released information about the news.
According to the government administration, the STOP COVID application allows us to prevent the spread of the virus by timely notification of persons in contact. The app allows the user to find out if they were in touch with a person infected with COVID-19 or not.
The administration of the government reported that with the initiative of the Ministry of Health, the innovative application is available for iOS and Android users. To download the app, iOS users must look for STOP COVID in the App Store, and Android owners can download it from Google Play under the name NOVID20. Additional download links can be found on the website of the Ministry of Health www.moh.gov.ge and also on the special website created by the government www.stopcov.ge.
The app does not require registration after downloading and installing. Consequently, the user does not share personal information. The app creates a unique ID for each user, through which it determines social contacts. All data is stored on the mobile phone, locally, using a powerful encoding system. Users have complete control over their data and can decide for themselves when and what information they want to disclose. The system pays special attention to compliance with European data protection legislation.
Bluetooth, GPS, and other technologies are used to determine which smartphones are close to each other. Information about the interaction between the users of the application - the date of contact, a duration (more than 15 minutes) and distance (less than two meters), get stored by both users. If a person has the diagnosis of COVID-19, those who were in contact with them over the past few days will receive a warning, an instruction - to remain in self-isolation and to contact the appropriate authorities immediately.
An Austrian company developed the application and made it available for the governments of different countries without paying a license fee. The application was brought in full compliance with the Georgian reality and legislation.
Several countries successfully implemented and used a similar model, including Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and others.
The application can be downloaded for Android users from the link - https://bit.ly/3bkYphX
iOS users can download the app - https://apple.co/2V92MXw
