Federal COVID Alert app caught 400 cases of COVID-19 in April – CBC
More than 165,000 positive cases detected through testing in April in regions using the COVID Alert app
May 27, 2021
The federal government’s COVID Alert app sent out 35,000 exposure notifications last month that resulted in the identification of at least 400 COVID-19 cases, says Health Canada.
That number may not seem large when compared with the more than 165,000 cases that were recorded in April in the jurisdictions that use the COVID Alert app — but Health Minister Patty Hajdu is taking those results as a win.
“That’s over 400 chains of infection stopped with the help of COVID Alert in April,” Hajdu said in a media statement. “I encourage all Canadians to download the COVID Alert app, check it daily and keep it up-to-date.”
These new numbers provide the first indication of the effectiveness of the software, released last July and promoted by the federal government as a key tool in the fight against the pandemic.
“It looks like it seems to have had some utility,” said University of Ottawa law professor Teresa Scassa, Canada Research Chair in Information Law and Policy.
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/federal-covid-app-first-numbers-data-1.6040360
