Irish Covid-tracing app linked up with Northern Ireland app in “world first”

Ireland has linked up its official Covid-tracing app with the Stop Covid NI app that was launched yesterday.

The Department of Health announced on Friday (31 July) that the two apps would operate in tandem with one another, alerting users if they come into close contact with someone who has been diagnosed with Covid-19, from either territory. The apps will use Bluetooth and anonymised keys to process data on close contacts, whether those contacts were diagnosed in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland, and regardless of which of the two apps they are using. The advancement has been hailed as a "world first" by the government. Speaking today, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said: "I am so proud of what Ireland has achieved here. We had one of the world’s most successful app launches, with a huge uptake in the first 24 hours. As of today, over 1.46 million people have downloaded it. Now we have another world first, with cross-border interoperability. "Public health has always been an all-island effort, and contact tracing has always been undertaken across the border from both sides. "The apps that Ireland and Northern Ireland have developed are another important tool in that effort, which will make sure that no matter where you are on the island, you can be sure that your app will work and you can be notified of any close contacts if you need to be."