Coronavirus: contact-tracing ‘Leave Home Safe’ app records 3.8 million downloads – representing over half of Hong Kong’s population
- Information and technology minister Alfred Sit says around 19,000 people have been tested for Covid-19 after being alerted by the app over past two months
- He urges people to use the software to help the government contain the pandemic, and assures data stored by it will not be used for any other purposes
Hong Kong’s Covid-19 contact-tracing app has recorded nearly 3.8 million downloads – representing more than half of the city’s population – and about 19,000 people have been tested for the coronavirus over the past two months after receiving alerts from the software, according to the city’s information and technology minister.
Alfred Sit Wing-hang also said on Sunday the “Leave Home Safe” app would not share data on its users’ daily activities with the government.
The secretary for innovation and technology revealed the latest figures in his official blog, saying the app had hit 3.77 million downloads since it was launched on November 16 last year, a jump from the 840,000 downloads reported until mid-February this year.
“The number is higher than half of Hong Kong’s population. And more than 83,000 public and private venues have also taken part in the scheme,” he wrote.
The app was launched to help health authorities trace close contacts of Covid-19 patients. Its use is voluntary and the users are asked to scan QR codes of the public places they are visiting, so the visits are recorded in the software. When someone tests positive for Covid-19, the app will notify other users who may have been in the proximity of the infected person at a venue.
But a section of residents feared the government might use the app to track their other activities.