Coronavirus app warns Chinese residents when near those who may be infected

Authorities in China have released a “close contact detect” app to help curb the spread of the Coronavirus

Spotted: With the Wuhan-borne Coronavirus spreading mass hysteria across the world, Chinese authorities have responded with a practical means of protection — an app that warns you if you have been in close proximity with a confirmed or suspected patient. 

Users can download the “close contact detect” app by scanning a QR code on their phones, using popular apps such as Alipay, WeChat and QQ. Each user has a status, and those people who have been in proximity with the infected — like teachers, office and medical staff, family members, friends, or passengers and crew in shared transport spaces, are given a “close contact” status.

The phone number of each user is registered to their name, contact details and ID number, and every user will be entitled to three status ‘checks’ of the people around them. The hope is that by using the app, not only will users decrease the likelihood of spreading the virus but that the rise panic-spreading could be curbed, as people are faced with real results.

The app is being run by the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation and is bolstered with data from health and transport authorities, through China’s state-run news agency Xinhua.