https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/20/cheap-popular-and-it-works-irelands-contact-tracing-app-success
> > Cheap, popular and it works: Ireland's contact-tracing app success > > Irish-made app has more than 1.3m downloads, in stark contrast to the UK’s > efforts > > Mon 20 Jul 2020 15.00 AEST > > Ireland’s Health Service Executive director general Paul Reid, health > minister Stephen Donnelly and acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn > launching Covid Tracker on 7 July. > (Left to right): Health Service Executive director general Paul Reid, health > minister Stephen Donnelly and acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn > launching Covid Tracker on 7 July. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA > > A government minister once compared Ireland’s health care system to Angola – > a political minefield of dysfunction, bureaucracy, waste and inefficiency. > The nickname stuck. > > Yet this morass has just produced a shiny success: a Covid-19 contact-tracing > app that is popular and appears to work. > > Since launching on 6 July, the Covid Tracker app was downloaded 1.3m times in > eight days – the fastest-downloaded app per capita in Europe – and has > started picking up cases of infection. > > “We’ve been delighted by the take-up rate. It’s gone beyond the initial > hopes,” said Colm Harte, the technical director of NearForm, the company that > made the app for the Health Service Executive (HSE). > > The app uses a phone’s Bluetooth signal to exchange a digital handshake with > another device also running the app when users come within 2 metres of each > other for more than 15 minutes. The anonymous keys are stored in a log on the > phone, which health authorities may ask users to upload if they are diagnosed > with Covid-19. The log can then be used to track unnamed contacts, who are > alerted about possible infection. > > NearForm made a similar app for Gibraltar, which launched last month, and one > for Northern Ireland, due to launch within weeks. “It’s the same core > platform. It’s built on the Irish solution,” said Harte. > > “An Irish solution to an Irish problem” is a derisive term in Ireland for > attempted fixes that are daft or quixotic. In this case, though, there seems > no need for self-deprecation. > > Ireland has made a tool against the pandemic not only for Ireland but for > part of the UK and for a British overseas territory – while Britain flounders > in its own attempt to produce an app. > > The NHS Covid-19 app was meant to roll out in England in May. That slipped to > June. Last month, officials ditched the app in its original form and backed > an alternative designed by Apple and Google. The government said it might > launch in winter. > Guardian Today: the headlines, the analysis, the debate - sent direct to you > Read more > > The Irish are not crowing. Authorities originally hoped to launch the app in > March, only to encounter complications. And its effectiveness remains > unclear. “It still has to prove its mettle,” said Seán L’Estrange, a social > scientist at University College Dublin who has studied tracing. > > Even so, the take-up rate is impressive, said L’Estrange. “What that shows is > the credibility of the app, the confidence in the initiative, and the > enthusiasm for participating in the collective project to contain the virus.” > > The €850,000 (£773,000) price tag is “dirt cheap” given that the average cost > of identifying each case of infection is €42,000, said L’Estrange. “Even if > it fails to produce the goods, little has been lost.” > > This suggests Ireland’s health system, plagued in normal times by bloated > management, turf battles and duplication, can do well in a crisis. > > “The whole of the organisation attuned itself and focused on coronavirus,” > said Fran Thompson, a HSE spokesperson. The pandemic allowed the HSE to > shortcut the regular tender process and select NearForm in mid-March. “It > probably saved six to eight weeks,” said Thompson. > > NearForm employs 150 people and builds software mostly for private clients. > It is based in a former council office in Tramore, a seaside town in County > Waterford, but has international pedigree, with developers scattered across > 21 countries. Clients include Condé Nast, Intel and Microsoft. > > Following Singapore’s lead, NearForm’s developers raced to build a > centralised app that used smartphones’ Bluetooth connectivity to trace people > who come into close contact with infected people. > > By April, they had a version but were struggling with Bluetooth. It worked > with Android but Apple’s iPhone operating system sent apps to sleep when > unused and Bluetooth could not activate them. > > “We quickly hit the same problems as other countries,” said Harte. A > centralised system also raised alarms about storing data and breaching > privacy. > > Then Apple and Google came together and offered an app that would support > public health apps and let Android and iOS phones connect even while locked. > Their decentralised version held no data in a single official database, > alleviating privacy concerns. > > The Irish were among the first to grasp Silicon Valley’s offer in late April. > “We got in early and it was full steam ahead. It allowed us to move on,” said > Harte. > > Britain, meanwhile, persisted with attempts to make a customised app until > last month when it made a U-turn and embraced the model preferred by Apple > and Google. -- Kim Holburn IT Network & Security Consultant T: +61 2 61402408 M: +61 404072753 mailto:[email protected] aim://kimholburn skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
