One million people download new Covid app in just 48 hours
THERE were one million downloads of the new Covid tracker app within the first 48 hours of its launch here.
The app was launched on Tuesday by the Department of Health and the HSE and is designed to enhance existing contact-tracing measures in Ireland and to help manage the spread of Covid-19.
HSE CEO Paul Reid said that the more people who download the app, the better we will be able to combat the spread of the virus.
“The app comes at an important time as we begin to move about more, and it will support us in managing future cases,” he said.
“I would encourage those who have not yet downloaded the app to do so, and for the one million people who have already downloaded the app, I would ask them to share it with their friends and families.”
The Covid tracker app – available to download from the App Store and Google Play – is designed to provide digital tracing of close contacts of confirmed cases of Covid-19. It also allows users to record if they have symptoms and provides daily information about rates of infection with the virus.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said that using the app helps to protect communities from the spread of the virus. “Throughout this pandemic, the Irish people have shown great solidarity and they’re still showing it,” he said.
If a person using the app tests positive for Covid-19, they can choose to anonymously alert other app users with whom they have been in close contact, including people they may not know. Those who receive an alert will have access to advice and testing.
Meanwhile, Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien will seek an extension of the ban on evictions and rent increases brought in due to the Covid-19 crisis if it’s justified by public health reasons.
His remarks in the Dáil cast doubt on his suggestion last month that the moratorium be extended until October.
Last month Mr O’Brien told the ‘Sunday Independent’ that the coalition would seek to extend the rent freeze and eviction ban – due to end on July 20 – until October.
It comes as the Government continues to work on what Tánaiste Leo Varadkar described as a “radical and far-reaching” July stimulus.
He said the ban has “given peace of mind to a lot of people” and “it would be useful to extend it for another three months”.
The issue was raised in the Dáil as part of a Labour Party motion which sought an extension of the moratorium on evictions and rent increases among other measures.
Fianna Fáil minister Mr O’Brien said the criteria for an extension of the emergency laws include the threat to public health and the need to restrict people’s movement to prevent the spread of the virus.
He said he will be writing to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly to ask if the public health situation “merits a further extension of this moratorium”. “If it is justified, I will bring a proposal to government accordingly,” he added.
“I will consider the economic situation [for] renters and possible further measures that may be put in place should they be needed,” he said.
Separately Mr Varadkar chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Recovery to consider plans for the July stimulus. Taoiseach Micheál Martin and other
senior ministers were also in attendance.
It was agreed that the stimulus would “need to be of sufficient speed and scale to give businesses confidence to reopen and stay open so that people can get back to work”.
Earlier Mr Varadkar told an
IDA Ireland event that actions being considered include enhanced Restart Grants and extending the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme.
He also briefed a private meeting of Fine Gael TDs and senators on the ongoing work, highlighting the examination of the restart grant scheme.
As it stands, businesses can apply for grants of between €2,000 and €10,000 to help with the costs of reopening.
Mr Varadkar is understood to have told the meeting that there is more interest in grants than in loans.
The ban on evictions ...has ‘given peace of mind to lots of people’