Corona, the covid19 warning app, goes to sleep in Germany

Emmanuel Thomas, DPA, Monday, May 1, 2023

 

BERLIN – Corona, the German gvernment’s app developed for users to notify their contacts if they test positive to Coronavirus, COVID19 stopped sending out  warnings on Monday.

Corona, used millions of times since the emergence of Covid-19, was used to let others know if they were at risk of developing the virus if someone they knew turned out to be infected.
With case numbers significantly lower, the app is to go into “sleep mode” on June 1, meaning it won’t receive updates for the time being.

However, app users can keep it on their mobile phones in order to show their digital vaccination certificates.

On Corona’s home page on Monday, users were directed to the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance’s warning app Nina for important alerts.

“Thanks to your help, the coronavirus warning app has fulfilled its purpose of early warning and supported the ending of infection chains,” a notification said.

Some 9 million people enabled more than 270 million warnings after testing positive using the app, the makers said, since its launch on June 16, 2020. It was downloaded more than 48 million times, with up to 35 million actively using it, they said.

Users who installed the app were notified of the distance and length of encounters. The ministry said the app can be “woken up” from sleep mode if infection figures increase again.