The COVID Alert app is now available in Nova Scotia, the province announced Thursday.
The phone app will allow users who test positive for COVID-19 to enter a code supplied by the Nova Scotia Health Authority.
An alert will then be sent to any phone that has come into close contact for at least 15 minutes with a person who’s tested positive.
The app will suggest how to proceed from there.
“As a province we have all shown a steadfast commitment to flattening the curve and keeping COVID activity low,” Premier Stephen McNeil said in a news release.
“As we learn to live with the virus, COVID Alert is another tool that will help keep ourselves and our communities safe and healthy.”
Eight provinces have now signed on to use the app: Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Saskatchewan, along with all four Atlantic provinces.
The release said COVID Alert does not collect personal or health information and does not know or track the location, name or contacts of the user. Prominent Halifax-based privacy lawyer David Fraser has encouraged Canadians to download the app.
Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer of health, had previously described the app as “another tool in our toolbox” when it comes to slowing the spread of COVID-19, but said it was not a “golden solution” that would solve everything.
“I would encourage Nova Scotians who are able, to download and use COVID Alert as one measure to prevent and reduce the spread of COVID-19 in our province,” said Strang in Thursday’s release.
“Nova Scotians are reminded that they should continue to follow all public health measures in place, regardless if they use the COVID Alert app.”
