coronavirus, coronavirus, peter gutwein, sarah courtney, covid19

The Premier used Tuesday's daily coronavirus briefing to spruik the federal government's planned tracing app. Ahead of joining Prime Minister and leaders of government Australia wide in the national cabinet, Peter Gutwein called on Tasmanians to download the app "in droves". Mr Gutwein acknowledged the community conversation surrounding the app had been divisive, but urged residents to see it as a tool to save lives. "I would ask Tasmanians to keep an open mind to this," Mr Gutwein said. "Whenever government asks for something like this to occur there can be resistance. But we need at least 40 per cent of people to sign up to this for it to be effective." Mr Gutwein explained it is planned the app, once downloaded, will collect the data of the phones in its close proximity via a bluetooth network. However, Mr Gutwein said, that data will only then be accessed by public health authorities if and when the person who has the app downloaded tests positive for coronavirus. Authorities will then use the data provided for contact tracing with certainty and the full details of a person's close contacts. Mr Gutwein said contact tracing currently relies on people being interviewed and their memories of their own movements which can be unreliable.

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