Statues wearing masks at the Trocadero esplanade in Paris, France, during the lockdown in France to stop the spread of COVID-19 on May 3, 2020. (Photo by Aurelien Morissard/Xinhua)
The French government is working on a smartphone app that could warn people, who voluntarily use the app, if they came into contact with a coronavirus carrier.
Using mobile apps to track the coronavirus is a sensitive issue in Europe. Dozens of non-profit organizations have written a common statement urging governments to respect human rights.
PARIS, May 5 (Xinhua) -- The government-supported contact-tracing app "StopCOVID" will be launched in France by June 2 to help stem the coronavirus' spread when the country starts to return to normality, Minister for Digital Affairs Cedric O said on Tuesday.
"We will enter the testing phase (of the tracing app) next week. This would allow us...to have a debate and a vote in parliament during the week of May 25, and to launch the app by June 2," the minister told BFM Business television.
The French government is working on a smartphone app that could warn people, who voluntarily use the app, if they came into contact with a coronavirus carrier.
Staff members of a private cleaning and disinfection company disinfect metro trains in Vincennes near Paris, France, April 30, 2020. (Photo by Aurelien Morissard/Xinhua)
Using mobile apps to track the coronavirus is a sensitive issue in Europe. Dozens of non-profit organizations have written a common statement urging governments to respect human rights.
"We are pursuing our roadmap. It is considered useful or even essential," Cedric said in response to critics over the geo-tracking technology which they say would harm civil liberties.
The minister added that the solutions proposed by U.S. internet giants Apple and Google "pose a certain number of problems in terms of privacy protection and inter-connection with the health system."
"That's why France, like the United Kingdom and other countries, has chosen to develop its own app which will work very well on all phones," he said.
France, where 25,201 people have died from COVID-19 since March 1, is preparing to gradually lift a national lockdown next Monday. ■
