The trial operation of the SwissCovid, a Corona 19 contact tracking app jointly developed by Edan Zurich ETHZ and the Lausanne Federal Institute of Technology EPFL, began in Switzerland. As a result, Switzerland has become the first country in the world to use a contact tracking app using Apple and Google APIs.
On May 21st, Apple introduced iOS 13.5, the latest version of the operating system installed on the iPhone. iOS 13.5 includes new features, such as quick access to the password input screen from Face ID when wearing a mask, and also introduced the Corona 19 tracking system API jointly developed by Apple and Google.
On May 25, the research team released Swiss Covid, which was developed based on the API for the Corona 19 tracking system jointly developed by Apple and Google. Swiss Covid’s main function is to track people infected with Corona 19 and to warn people in contact with the infected. When Swiss Covid is installed on a smartphone, the device with Swiss Covid is installed using Bluetooth. When a terminal is found within 2m distance for more than 15 minutes, encrypted codes are exchanged with each other.
If a Swiss Covid user is diagnosed as positive in the Corona 19 test, he or she can arbitrarily report it to the local government using Swiss Covid. In addition, the local government anonymously notifies the person near the corona19 infected person through the exchanged encryption code. This is a structure that makes it possible to call attention to those who have been infected with Corona 19 and who are rich without revealing who is infected with Corona 19.
Swiss Covid will provide beta services for the Swiss military, medical workers, and public officials for the time being, and will be open to the public by the end of June at the latest after parliamentary approval. It is the first app in the world to use the Corona 19 tracking system API, but Latvia is also planning to introduce a similar app (Apturi Covid).
ETHZ Professor Srdjan Capkun, who participated in the development of Swiss Covid, said Swiss Covid data is processed locally and all data is automatically deleted after the 21st, so user personal information is not centrally managed and user approved. He explained that data is not sent from the terminal unless otherwise. He added that the Swiss Covid app itself is also open source, so both the design and implementation are open to the public. Related information can be found here .