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TECHNOLOGY

France’s coronavirus tracking app alerts just 14 people since launch

France's coronavirus tracking app has only alerted 14 people that they were at risk of infection since its launch three weeks ago, the digital affairs minister admitted on Tuesday, as he suggested cultural differences explained the success of a similar app in Germany.

France's coronavirus tracking app alerts just 14 people since launch
France's digital affairs minister Cedric O with the StopCovid app. Photo: AFP

The StopCovid app keeps track of users who have been in close proximity of one another over a two-week period. If any become infected, they inform the platform, which alerts the others.

French officials defended the app as a vital tool for slowing the spread of Covid-19, although critics expressed data privacy concerns.

Since its launch, 68 people informed the platform they had been infected and only 14 users were alerted that they were now at risk because of their contacts with these people, digital affairs minister Cedric O said at a press conference.

The French uses bluetooth technology. Photo: AFP

The minister nevertheless defended the usefulness of the app, arguing that the numbers reflected a decrease in the virus' prevalence.

But he admitted the number of downloads in France paled in comparison with Germany, where 10 million people downloaded the app versus almost 2 million in France.

And in France, 460,000 then uninstalled the app, leaving around 1.5 million users across the whole country.

The difference with Germany isn't to do with the app itself, said Cedric O.   

“It's probably more to do with our cultural differences and differing attitudes to the coronavirus,” he said.

“And potentially, it may be linked to a difference in perspective towards respective governments' behaviour during the pandemic,” he added.

The minister said he had no regrets over the choices made regarding the app, which he said would be very useful if there was a new spike in cases.

The app will cost between €80,000 and €120,000 a month for expenses related to hosting and development and maintenance work, a cost that would increase if there were to be a spike in cases, Cedric O said.

Testing apps, touted by some as the best solution to returning life to normal as the virus relents, have had tricky births across Europe.

Britain was due to start unrolling its own app in early June, but those plans were shelved after an initial testing phase revealed major problems.

In a major U-turn, the British government said on Thursday that it was ditching its current coronavirus-tracing app works and shifting to a model based on technology developed by Apple and Google.

France also has an extensive test and trace programme in addition to the app, which involves doctors and health insurance staff calling people who have been in close contact with anyone who has tested positive for the virus.

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HEALTH

France reports nearly 200 cholera cases in Mayotte

Nearly 200 cases of cholera have been reported on the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, which is struggling to contain the deadly epidemic.

France reports nearly 200 cholera cases in Mayotte

“As of June 18th, 2024, 193 cases of cholera have been reported in Mayotte,” France’s Santé publique France health agency reported in its weekly update.

Of those, 172 were locally acquired cases, while 21 were in people infected in the neighbouring Comoros archipelago and countries on the African continent.

Cholera is an infectious disease typically causing severe diarrhoea, vomiting and muscle cramps. It spreads easily in unsanitary conditions.

Mayotte, which is home to around 320,000 people, reported its first locally acquired cases of cholera in late April, according to officials in Paris.

Two people have died since the beginning of the epidemic, one of them a three-year-old girl.

Santé publique France warned there was a particularly high risk of transmission in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, “as long as access to drinking water and sanitation is unsatisfactory”.

French authorities have been criticised for failing to secure access to drinking water to prevent a cholera epidemic in its overseas territory.

President Emmanuel Macron called for cholera to be ‘consigned to the past’ when he hosted a summit on Thursday on vaccine production in Africa.

Many parts of Africa have recently seen fatal outbreaks of cholera, which has highlighted the shortage of local vaccine production.

The Comoros, which has been affected by a cholera epidemic for the past four months, has recorded 134 deaths and more than 8,700 cases, according to a report published by local authorities this month.

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