A Canadian COVID-19 contact tracing app is on its way

In this morning’s press briefing, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke about the development of a new, voluntary COVID-19 contact tracing app called COVID Shield, developed by Canadian Digital Service in conjunction with Shopify and Blackberry.

“Led by the Canadian Digital Service and with the help of Shopify, Blackberry and the Government of Ontario, we’ve been working on a nationwide mobile app that will notify users if they’ve been exposed to COVID-19. We will soon begin testing this app in Ontario. There are a number of other provinces, including B.C., that are working with us on this, but it will be available to everyone in the coming weeks. I want to stress that this app will be completely voluntary. It will be up to individual Canadians to decide whether to download the app or not. But the app will be most effective when as many people as possible have it.

“Here’s how it’s going to work: If you test positive for COVID-19, a healthcare professional will help you upload your status anonymously to a national network. Other users who have the contact tracing app and have been in proximity to you will then be alerted that they have been exposed to someone who’s tested positive. A notification will encourage them to reach out to their local public health service. At no time will personal information be collected or shared and no location services will be used. The privacy of Canadians will be fully respected.”

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For official info from the Government of Canada on COVID-19 (Coronavirus), please also click here.