Covid-19, EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Legislation, Technology, Telecomunications

Thanks to the interoperability solution, Apturi Covid will warn about contacts with infected persons also in Germany, Italy, Ireland and Spain, the CDC said.

On October 19, the European Commission's solution enabled interoperability of EU member states' contact tracing apps, allowing people to learn about their contacts with infected persons sooner and also in cases where the contacts have happened in a foreign countries and the persons have used different contact tracing apps.

As reported, the Apturi Covid contact tracing app is available in Latvia since May 29.

Smartphones with the Apturi Covid app exchange signals or digital "handshakes" via Bluetooth, which are encrypted on the user's phone. If one phone user becomes ill, the other will be warned that he or she has been in contact with a Covid-19 infected person. The infected person and the place where the contact took place will remain anonymous to the user.

The downloading and use of the Covid-19 contact tracing up is strictly voluntary. The app created complies with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDR) and does not use data provided by the Global Positioning System (GPS) to track its users, mobile phone operator Latvijas Mobilais Telefons (LMT) President Juris Binde said during a presentation of the mobile app.