The “Immuni” tracking app for localizing contacts with people who tested positive for coronavirus has become a flop in Italy. Only four million Italians – around ten percent of the population – have downloaded the application since the beginning of June. That is well below the government’s expectations.
„For the time being, the ‚Immuni‘ app did not reach the goal we had expected,“ said the responsible government commissioner, Domenico Arcuri, according to media reports. Because of the declining number of coronavirus deaths, optimism had spread in Italy, so many Italians would not download the app. According to Arcuri, the application could be useful in the fall if there is a new wave of infections.
The free app, developed by a company in Milan on behalf of the government, is designed to send a message to citizens when they are near an infected person. In Italy, “Immuni” has sparked a lot of discussion and concerns about privacy issues. The government is trying to disperse this. Gianni Rezza, director general of the preventive department of the Ministry of Health in Rome, said the app was important to locate possible sources of infection.
Mandatory app use in Slovenia
Slovenia will in future use a mandatory tracking app for people infected with the corona virus. This provides for a law passed last night by the Ljubljana parliament with the votes of the center-right coalition. This means that all people in coronavirus quarantine must use the app.
With this measure, criticized by the opposition and critics as a state interference in privacy, Prime Minister Janez Jansa wants to prevent a further „lock-down“ in view of the increasing number of cases. So far, there is no tracking app in Slovenia. The responsible minister for public administration, Bostjan Koritnik, said according to the Slovenian news agency STA that the app should be available „in a few weeks“.
