Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci has renewed the health authorities’ appeal to the public to download the official contact tracing application, called COVID Alert Malta.

The Superintendent reminded the public that the more people who download the app, the better it will work.

It has been suggested that if leaving Bluetooth on significantly drains phone battery, one should switch on their Bluetooth when in close contact with persons outside of their household.

Prof Gauci also reminded the public that the application cannot tell a user whether they are in the vicinity of somebody who is COVID-positive, but it alerts the user if they have been previously in contact with COVID patient before they tested positive.

If an individual tests positive, public health authorities provide the person with a ‘COVID code’, which is to be entered into the application, and will notify the user’s contacts who they have been in contact, thereby helping to stop the spread of the virus.

In this way, the individual who has tested positive is not identifiable, however those who have been in contact with them would be aware that they have spent time in the vicinity of a COVID-positive person.

Prof Gauci stressed that once modern technology is available to fight the spread of the virus, it should be utilized. She also highlighted how the app helps to plug the gaps caused by human error, as people who test positive do not always remember everybody who they have been in contact with.

She shared that in total, 43,334 Android users have downloaded the app while 16,394 Apple users have done so too.

On Friday, authorities registered 31 new cases of the virus and 70 recoveries. The number of active cases has reached 639 while the number of COVID-related deaths have tragically reached 29.