Corona app: also useful for few users?

Ana Goldscheider studied journalism and corporate communication in Hamburg and is now completing additional training as an editor. In a medical editorial office, she writes texts for print magazines and, among other things.

More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.

The federal government commissioned the Corona warning app back in March. It should now appear in mid-June. But does it also have a chance of success?

According to the Federal Government, the planned Corona warning app would make sense even with comparatively few users. "The more people participate, the more useful it will be," said Deputy Government Spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer on Wednesday in Berlin. "But it's not that it doesn't work if only a few take part. Rather, everyone who also takes part is an aid in keeping track of contact chains."

Warning app has been under discussion for a long time

A corona app for smartphones has been discussed since March. The companies Deutsche Telekom and SAP are now developing the technical concept for the federal government. The Corona app is intended to help track infections when the restrictions on going out are relaxed. It should anonymously record which smartphones have come close to each other - and warn users if it turns out that they have been next to infected people. When a user reports their confirmed infection in the app, people who have received their key in the past few days are notified.

Chancellery chief Helge Braun (CDU) said in the RTL lunch journal "Punkt 12" that the introduction took time because they had been waiting for the technical interfaces to be provided by Apple and Google. "The interfaces are now there and that is why we can finish developing them quickly. We are very confident that we can do it by mid-June." This Friday, Braun wants to report on the app at a video conference and advertise it, as Demmer said.

Confirmation from Oxford

In April, researchers at Oxford University wrote in a study recognized by many experts that such an app would only be fully effective if the participation rate was 60 percent. According to estimates by market researchers, only WhatsApp has such a high percentage in Germany. Nonetheless, Professor Christophe Fraser from Oxford University is confident. "Even with fewer app users, we still expect a reduction in the number of coronavirus cases and deaths." (ag / dpa)

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