THE First Minister has called on people living in Scotland to download a new Covid-19 proximity tracing app to aid the fight against the virus.
The Protect Scotland app alerts you if you have been in close contact with another app user who has tested positive for coronavirus, and will do the same for others if you test positive.
Users’ information is kept private and their identity remains anonymous.
Sharing a link to download the app this morning, Nicola Sturgeon wrote: “There’s a new way to help fight COVID in Scotland. ‘Protect Scotland’ - our confidential contact tracing app - will anonymously notify app users you’ve been in close contact with, should you test positive. Please download, and let’s all protect Scotland.”
NHS Scotland says: "Using the Protect Scotland app, along with sticking to current public health measures, will help us to stay safe when we meet up, socialise, work or travel.
"As we see the rate of infection start to rise, it is important that we all download and use the Protect Scotland app to help stop the spread of coronavirus."
The app works by using Bluetooth and works in the background as you use your phone as normal.
The app exchanges anonymous, encrypted, random codes with other mobile phones with it installed. You do not need to have a WiFi connection and the app uses a very small amount of your mobile phone data.
When the app finds another user, it will record the contact, the distance between your phones and the length of time your phone was near theirs. This is all done anonymously.
If you test positive for coronavirus, you can choose to input the Test Code, provided by the contact tracer. This will automatically notify other app users that you have been in close contact with (within 2 metres for at least 15 minutes).
When another app user inputs their test code, the app notifies you and others it determines could be a risk..
The app can be downloaded here.
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