Tracing mobile application to stop the spread of COVID-19

This compendium, prepared by the Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government (DPIDG) of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), aims to capture emerging trends in digital responses of UN Member States against the COVID-19 pandemic along with other digital government initiatives and provide a preliminary analysis of their main features. These cases are shared for exchange of information so that Member States can learn from each other and possibly create new partnerships.

Estonia’s app shall be based on the DP-3T protocol developed by leading privacy experts. This approach would also be in line with the contact tracing API recently announced by Apple and Google, which the Estonian app would seek to integrate with. The contact tracing system, which will be compatible with both iOS and Android devices, will be implemented on an opt-in basis, meaning individuals have to actively confirm that they wish to participate and contribute to this solution. The app itself is based on on-board radios on a given device and transmits an anonymous ID over short-range Bluetooth. The application analyses, what IDs the individual was in contact with over the last 14 days, and only if a certain threshold of distance and time between two devices is recorded, a match is deemed confirmed.

Country

Estonia

Institution

Ministry of Social Affairs