COVID-19: Launch of the StopCOVID NI Proximity App

As part of the Test, Trace, Protect Strategy, the Public Health Agency has put in place a contact tracing service that will get in touch with anyone in Northern Ireland who tests positive for the COVID-19 virus. The process captures where the person has been and who they spent time with, with the aim of identifying any of their friends, family and wider contacts that might be at increased risk of acquiring the virus themselves. Prompt communication with those people can help to reduce the spread of the virus. 

Whilst the contact tracing service can identify many potential contacts, there could be others that are more difficult to identify. For instance, if someone with the virus travelled on public transport, this could potentially place multiple people at risk of acquiring the virus and it may not be possible to trace many of them on a manual basis. 

Several countries, including the Republic of Ireland, have launched an app based on Apple and Google technology that uses smartphone features to help provide alerts more quickly to a wider group of people who are potentially at risk. The new app called ‘StopCOVID NI’ can be found in the Apple and Google App Stores. 

The app is one way of helping to stop the spread of COVID-19. 

Further information can be viewed in the leaflet below and at the following link from the nidirect website: