Malta will have its very own COVID-19 contact-tracing app as from today, alerting users whether they’ve come into close contact with anyone who later tests positive for the virus. 

In a press conference about the app earlier today, Health Minister Chris Fearne affirmed that the app, COVID Alert Malta, will use Apple and Google’s Bluetooth contact tracing system and does not collect personal data, making it fully GDPR compliant.

The app will be available to download from Apple’s App store and Google Play and will work alongside conventional manual methods of contact tracing rather than replacing them.

Similar contact-tracing apps are also being used in 14 other countries.

The launch of the app comes as local health authorities struggle to meet the rise in demand of tests and contact tracing, following a spike in positive cases in recent weeks.

How will the app work? 

The app will not rely on a positive person’s memory to notify anyone that they have come into contact with, and also works when contacts are unknown to the positive person.

Confirmed COVID positive users will be given a ‘COVID code’, which will upload anonymous information and unlock a function that shares their positive result to a database.

The database will reveal users who met with the patient whilst infectious, and these are in turn alerted and notified about what steps to take next, which could involve quarantine or arranging to have a test taken. 

The app will be available in English or Maltese.