As the Coronavirus Spread the government set out to fight it with the help of a smartphone app. Launched in february the alley play Health Code App was the 1st attempt to slow the transmission rate of covert 19 by tracking infected people digitally using information from their smartphones the app analyzes personal data to assign a color code that either grants users access to or bars them from buses trains and public spaces. South korea launched its own Contact TracingProgram Shortly after china requiring all International Visitors to download a tracing app at the airport but the countrys effort to monitor the virus doesnt rely on this app alone the south Korean Health authority also tracks infected people using surveillance cameras and credit card information. Singapore led the way in creating an app that can monitor the spread of the virus without government surveillance the Countries Apple trace together uses encrypted anonymous data to alert those who have come in contact with infected people australia has launched its own app based on the trace together protocol. In europe france italy and germany launched coronavirus tracing apps this month prioritizing privacy the italian and german apps use a decentralized approach they dont store users information on a server but rather on the users phones the french stop kovac app however is centralized it does store data on government run servers but says the data is deleted after 14 days. The u. K. Is preparing to launch an app similar to the french model later this month. The European Commission has called for a common tracing technology across the e. U. But so far member countries have been going it alone. A closer look at france now they released at the beginning of this month and as mentioned in that report it relies on centralized data storage and that is giving pause to some potential users. Downloaded stopped as soon as it was launched users who test positive get a barcode they can enter in the up stop then alerts other users who theyve been in close contact with. A new do you want. The app is on a voluntary basis and obviously doesnt replace other measures like face masks. But its one out of several tools that can help protect me and the people i meet. Michelle hasnt tested positive nor has she received an alert there are no official figures on how many alerts have been sent out so far but she still hopes the app will be effective. Me i know that there has been a payday mix in the past and never thought id live to experience one it was frightening and very worrying and its too early to say if its only to keep up our guard. But only about 2 percent of people in france have downloaded the app so far many are concerned the government might use to track people but michelle says that doesnt bother her shuki we are all using mobile phones and being tracked through relay mass it is very easy to know where people have been at a certain point in time also through facebook and twitter compared to that is not a threat. We shall hope small people will use the app and that the cave at 19 epidemic soon becomes a thing of the pos im joined now by ralph yons hes the founder of research to guidance thats Consulting Firm for the Digital Health industry in berlin ralph its good to have you with us 1st of all now the german app came out this week and already has 10000000 downloads does that make it a success you know its definitely a very good start. Also compared to other official tracing apps in a lot of other countries so they have to fall much worse than here in germany so its a good start but that see how that throw that develops we think that maybe 1st movers have now donned order to. Become so hot part of the game to convince all the other ones the ones who are a bit skeptical you know to also download and install this uptick ation but its a good start and you know. Now this app works without a centralized data registry should that reassure users about their Data Security its definitely a march secure and times of privacy approach so yes i mean the balancing of prior to data privacy and being able to fight the pen to make with the help of a tracing app we think that the betances is being has been reached and we would recommend on loading the up location. As we heard earlier there are plenty of other National Apps france italy singapore for example how effective is it going to be when people are traveling across borders and they have their own Countries App but maybe not in other countries. Yeah thats what i mean thats still a problem and so if you met somebody who was affected in another country and hes using a different app then your app wouldnt wouldnt know about it so still country apps are still not talking to each other that might take a while until those sort of russians are going to be into approachable but for now they conned talk to each other are we seeing any efforts to create a unified app for example maybe in the e. U. Yeah i mean there at the very beginning they have been discussions on the european level to our come up which is one approach which works. You know all the contrary but then it turned out that country interest were so different so that each of the countries they decided to go 1st their own way maybe when there will be a 2nd wave or the pend i make takes longer then they will meet again and then find ways to to merge and to let those up to cations talk to each other but not for know and weve been talking about tracing apps this whole time that there are other Digital Tools that can be used in this pandemic what can you give us an example of. Yes sure i mean there are plenty and the tracing phase is just a very very tiny. Phase it was in the overall spectrum of what is what is available out there so i mean there are hundreds of solutions out there which help to educate the users. About there is of getting effective or being effected there are lots of 3 yosh solutions out there which help. Patients or users had to find the next testing stations and also. Make appointments you know ways doctors have to do the tests then we have the tracking and tracing. Phase of this whole Pandemic Management and then we come to current time management and during con time management there are also lots of tools which have being made available during the pen demick in a very very quark quick way which allows the patients have 2 minutes theyre basically there their Health Status was being counted timed selfimposed or enforced so there are lots of solutions already out there today right rob fiance of research to guidance a Digital HealthConsulting Firm thank you very much thank you. And its time now to answer your questions about covert one scene over to our science correspondent derek williams. Does High Altitude affect the transmission of covert 19. Interesting lee guess it seems to when i went looking for information on this i found a recent study comparing infection rates in low lying parts of china and bolivia to mountainous areas and it showed that the higher you go the fewer cases of cove at 19 you find them now a lot of thats probably down to environmental factors of course like like higher u. V. Radiation at altitude and more drastic temperature swings and drier air which could all play a role in hindering replication but the researchers also postulated that a physiological factor could be playing a role people who live in low oxygen environments at High Altitudes have way fewer ace to receptive ears in their heart and lung cells its an adjustment the body makes too to thin air and since those are the receptor the virus uses to invade your body having a lot less of them and those organs might protect you. Can you give us a status update on possible vaccines for covert one team. The w. H. O. Is keeping a running count of the steadily mounting number of vaccine candidates in the pipeline there are are over 140 of them out there now of of those most are still in whats called the the preclinical stage so in cell culture or an animal testing but but 13 have moved on to clinical evaluation which means theyre being checked for for safety and if it is see in humans only one has reached phase 3 which is the last stage of the process before approval by the way the speed at which this is go away is really pretty jaw dropping for a vaccine candidate reaching phase 3 after less than 6 months it is unheard of. And thats a 4 day special for today thanks for watching and stay healthy. From the french quarter. 24 and im linda crane 40 w. Standing on a german side walk alongside the french main street riding right from the france germany border. Closing the french german border wars grand reopening what will it take to restore Economic Health in europe. Next on d w. Whats going on here. Extinctions delivers facts and shows what the future holds. For. Living in the digital world. Sure. And 30 minutes on d w. How does a virus spread. Why do we panic and when well. Just through the top. And the weekly radio show is called spectrum if you would like to tell me more information on the crown of virus or any other science topic we should really check out our podcast you can get it wherever you get your podcasts you can also find us and. Science. After 3 months its the day many European Countries lift border controls hello everyone im from the French Border town of show nick for france 24. 00 and im linda crane for d. W. Standing on a german sidewalk alongside the french main street where in the summer region where European Economic cooperation began 70 years ago last month were going to be asking where those border controls left a bitter taste as we embark on a new phase can the franco juror