Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

TECHNOLOGY

Italy launches Immuni contact-tracing app: Here’s what you need to know

The Immuni contact-tracing app, designed to help Italy manage phase two of the coronavirus crisis, went nationwide on Monday, June 15th.

Published: 5 June 2020 11:13 CEST
Updated: 15 June 2020 17:09 CEST
Italy launches Immuni contact-tracing app: Here's what you need to know
A contact-tracing app in Singapore. Photo: Catherine Lai/AFP

The first trials of the app began in the regions of Liguria, Puglia, Marche and Abruzzo on June 8th before later being rolled out across Italy a week later.

Three people using the app in Liguria tested positive for the virus and were able to send an alert to other users they came into contact with, according to regional president Giovanni Toti.

READ ALSO: When will a Covid-19 vaccine be available in Italy?

The launch of the app had been delayed amid concerns about users' privacy, and some local authorities doubt how useful it will be. Many critics point out that it won't be effective unless a large enough percentage of the population downloads it.

In Puglia, for example, local health authorities say the app will need to be downloaded by at least 10 percent of local residents for it to be effective.

But authorities say the app is being well received, with some 500,000 downloads reported within 24 hours after the app was made available on the Apple and Google stores on June 1st.

Some 2.2 million people, out of Italy's total population of 60 million, had downloaded the app by June 15th.

How does the Immuni app work?

Use of the app is voluntary. Developed by Milan-based startup Bending Spoons, it works using Bluetooth.

After installation, it requires some basic personal details including your town of residence. After that, “the system will function automatically”, according the app's official website.

If two smartphones with the app installed are less than one metre apart, they exchange automatically generated codes which make it possible to trace previous contacts in case one of the users is diagnosed with the virus.

When local health authorities register a new case of coronavirus, they can add a code into the system, with the consent of the patient.

The system then sends notification to users who have been in close contact with the positive case.

“By being alerted early, users can contact their general practitioner and, therefore, lower the risk of serious consequences,” the app's website states.

The app is currently available in English or Italian. Support for German, French, and Spanish is “coming very soon,” according to the website's FAQ.

“The app uses the same language that’s set on  the user's smartphone, where available.”

Graphic: Immuni

Should I be concerned about privacy?

The codes are anonymous, and don’t contain personal information about the users, health authorities said.

“It is an innovative, technological support to the initiatives the government has already put into place to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus,” said a joint statement by the ministries of health and of innovation and the premier's department.

“It was developed in compliance with Italian and European legislation to protect privacy.”

Data collected will be stored on the device, not on a central server.

The system will not trace movements and data can only be shared with the user’s permission. Any data collected and shared with the central server will be deleted by December 31st, 2020.

You can find further details, in Italian or English, at immuni.italia.it

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

HEALTH

Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

As Italy’s new school year began, masks and hand sanitiser were distributed in schools and staff were asked to prevent gatherings to help stem an increase in Covid infections.

Published: 11 September 2023 12:48 CEST
Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

Pupils returned to school in many parts of Italy on Monday and authorities said they were distributing masks and hand sanitiser amid a post-summer increase in the number of recorded cases of Covid–19.

“The advice coming from principals, teachers and janitors is to avoid gatherings of students, especially in these first days of school,” Mario Rusconi, head of Italy’s Principals’ Association, told Rai news on Monday.

He added that local authorities in many areas were distributing masks and hand sanitizer to schools who had requested them.

“The use of personal protective equipment is recommended for teachers and students who are vulnerable,” he said, confirming that “use is not mandatory.”

A previous requirement for students to wear masks in the classroom was scrapped at the beginning of the last academic year.

Walter Ricciardi, former president of the Higher Health Institute (ISS), told Italy’s La Stampa newspaper on Monday that the return to school brings the risk of increased Covid infections.

Ricciardi described the health ministry’s current guidelines for schools as “insufficient” and said they were “based on politics rather than scientific criteria.”

READ ALSO:

Recorded cases of Covid have increased in most Italian regions over the past three weeks, along with rates of hospitalisation and admittance to intensive care, as much of the country returns to school and work following the summer holidays.

Altogether, Italy recorded 21,309 new cases in the last week, an increase of 44 percent compared to the 14,863 seen the week before.

While the World Health Organisation said in May that Covid was no longer a “global health emergency,” and doctors say currently circulating strains of the virus in Italy are not a cause for alarm, there are concerns about the impact on elderly and clinically vulnerable people with Italy’s autumn Covid booster campaign yet to begin.

“We have new variants that we are monitoring but none seem more worrying than usual,” stated Fabrizio Maggi, director of the Virology and Biosafety Laboratories Unit of the Lazzaro Spallanzani Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome

He said “vaccination coverage and hybrid immunity can only translate into a milder disease in young and healthy people,” but added that “vaccinating the elderly and vulnerable continues to be important.”

Updated vaccines protecting against both flu and Covid are expected to arrive in Italy at the beginning of October, and the vaccination campaign will begin at the end of October, Rai reported.

Amid the increase in new cases, Italy’s health ministry last week issued a circular mandating Covid testing on arrival at hospital for patients with symptoms.

Find more information about Italy’s current Covid-19 situation and vaccination campaign on the Italian health ministry’s website (available in English).

SHOW COMMENTS