The Ministry of Health of the Government of Spain and the National Health Service of the United Kingdom are studying, together with the Government of the Canary Islands, the results of the Radar COVID contact tracing app that was tested "successfully" in La Gomera and that will be available in the Canary Islands in the second half of August for the detection of contacts of COVID positives. This Tuesday morning, the Director General of Modernization and Quality of Services of the Government of the Canary Islands, Pablo Hernández, participated in a bilateral meeting between both states to advance in the advantages that this type of apps have in containing the pandemic.
During the meeting, British officials were interested in the results of the pilot test of this tool that took place in La Gomera between June 29 and July 31 and that included the simulation of four waves of fictitious outbreaks of Covid-19. The Government of the Canary Islands, through the Ministries of Health and Public Administrations, Justice and Security, has participated in the pilot test and in the development of the application led by the Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence and by the Ministry of Health.
In this pilot project, the app was downloaded by around 3,200 people in San Sebastián de la Gomera and, according to the Government of the Canary Islands, the results of the test showed that Radar Covid detects 6.4 close contacts for each Covid-19 positive, which allows a more accurate tracking of the chain of contacts of each infected person. Likewise, it is indicated that users have also highlighted the usability and privacy in the evaluation of the same.
Therefore, the regional Executive indicates that the Government of the United Kingdom is considering the possibility of implementing a tool of this type in the British Isles, not only to know how the coronavirus moves through its territory, but also to serve as a guarantee of the safety of British citizens, one of the first tourist source markets to the Canary Islands.
The Government of the Canary Islands is confident that an application of this type will finally be launched in the United Kingdom, "as it would help control the circulation of the virus in a country with very close social and economic ties with the Archipelago, reinforcing the safety of citizens and tourists from both territories."
