Contact tracing applications for infected people in Singapore and Australia were launched earlier, but the result was incomplete. iPhone does not support Bluetooth as a proxy for measuring the risk of infection. Initially, the software will work only in Latvia. The country’s population is almost 2 million people.
The Latvian application Apturi Covid (Stop Covid) works on iOS and Android operating systems, which is 99% of smartphones on the planet. Developers expect compatibility to ensure widespread adoption.
“In the future, the application will be compatible with other contact tracking software around the world, with a similar infection notification structure,” the authors explain.
The developers approach unites Latvia with a coalition of European countries, including Germany, Switzerland and Estonia, working on national applications that can “communicate” with each other across borders.
Like mobile roaming, such compatibility will allow the software to work while the user is traveling abroad. This will give governments greater confidence that easing travel restrictions will not trigger a second wave of pandemic.