Japan Urges Citizens to Install Coronavirus Tracking App

Japan's government on Thursday urged citizens to install the country's first coronavirus-tracing app when it launches this week, pledging that the system would not invade users' privacy.

The smartphone app, which like those in many countries relies on Bluetooth tracking and the permission of users, will launch on Friday.

"This is an important tool to protect your lives, so please install it," Yasutoshi Nishimura, the minister in charge of the government's coronavirus response, told a press conference.

The software will record encrypted data from users of the smartphone app when they come within a certain distance of each other.

When users who have tested positive for the coronavirus register their information voluntarily, other users who have come within a metre of them for at least 15 minutes will be notified.

The app, developed under health ministry supervision, will not record data that could identify individuals, such as phone numbers or locations, so "you can use it with a sense of safety", top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said this week.

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