Canada’s COVID Alert app, which was closely tied to PCR testing, will be discontinued in the coming days, a federal government source confirmed to The Canadian Press.
The free coronavirus exposure notification app was launched in the summer of 2020, in the early months of the pandemic. It was then presented as a means of alerting Canadians if they had been in close contact with a person infected with the virus, even before the appearance of any symptoms. The application did not allow the collection of personal data from users.
But this tool requires users to enter a one-time key given to them when they receive a positive PCR test result. However, many provinces have replaced mass screening with PCR tests with home screening with rapid tests, which do not grant the one-time key.
The app has been criticized as inefficient and not meeting expectations. Although 6.89 million people had downloaded it as of February 1, only 57,704 keys have been used.
Meanwhile, there have been approximately 3.87 million COVID-19 infections in Canada since the start of the pandemic and more than 41,000 people have died.
The COVID Alert app cost $20 million, the bulk of which — $15.9 million — was spent on promotion and advertising. Ottawa has spent $3.5 million developing and maintaining the app.
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