MADRID, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- A mobile phone application aimed to help trace possible coronavirus infections will be launched in the Balearic Islands and Canary Islands, the first of Spain's 17 autonomous communities to launch such an app, Spain's Secretary of State for Digitization and Artificial Intelligence Carme Artigas confirmed on Monday.
The Radar COVID application will be made available in both iOS and Android versions to residents and tourists in the two islands regions, which are popular with foreign tourists.
Artigas explained the test of the app, which was held from June 29 until July 20, had been a success, with around 3,200 people on La Gomera, one of the Canary Islands, and around 100,000 throughout Spain downloading the application.
In a simulation of a coronavirus outbreak during the test period, the application detected over 6.5 close contacts per infection, almost twice as many as those located by "track and trace" workers using telephones.
During the test, 61 percent of people informed of a possible infection subsequently sent warnings to alert people who they had spent time with.
"The application sees more than us, it remembers the contacts we have had with strangers, it is faster than us and has more memory because it records any close contact, it also respects the highest privacy standards and has been shown to be less intrusive than the call of someone who interrogates you to reconstruct what you have done in the last few days," assured Artigas.
She also pointed out that users had said they were pleased with the application rating with 8.2 points out of 10. Enditem
