The data about the app was released by the president of the Ministry of Health’s Shared Services (SPMS), who during the usual press conference on the Covid-19 pandemic in Portugal, took stock of the first month of the application, launched on 1 September.

According to Luís Goes Pinheiro, among the more than one million users, 107 codes relating to positive tests have already been inserted in the application.

These codes are assigned by the doctor on the ‘Trace Covid’ platform whenever a user tests positive for the new coronavirus and can be introduced in the screening application to alert all recent risk contacts that also use the ‘StayAway Covid’ tool.

“We know that this is an application based on the principle of freedom. The freedom to install, the freedom to use it and the freedom to enter the code when the doctor provides it”, explained the head of shared services to justify the small number of codes.

In this regard, the President of SPMS took the opportunity to call on people to actually use the application and, in particular, users that test positive, recalling that data protection is not a problem.

“If they do, those people who have been high-risk contacts in recent days will not know who the person who entered the code was. Their anonymity will always be guaranteed,” he assured.

The ‘StayAway Covid’ app, which allows Covid-19 contagion networks to be traced, has also been the source of some of the contacts for the National Health line since the first week it was launched.
Since 1 September, SNS 24 has already received 106 calls from people notified by the application.