Nova Scotia is the latest province to support Canada’s COVID Alert app, announcing this morning it now supports the latter for iOS and Android users.
Support in Nova Scotia means if a user tests positive for COVID-19, they can now use COVID Alert to report anonymously their positive test result, to alert others of potential exposure to coronavirus.
Canada’s COVID Alert app is based on Google and Apple’s exposure notification framework, which leverages Bluetooth on devices for anonymous “handshakes” in the background. The app does not use GPS info or collect any user data. It has been vetted as safe by Canada’s privacy commissioner and provincial counterparts.
When someone tests positive for COVID-19, they can anonymously alert others that may have been in contact using COVID Alert, by obtaining a one-time use from their provincial health authority.
Nova Scotia becomes the eighth province in Canada to support COVID Alert, which has been downloaded over 4.3 million times. Since October 13, there have been 1,486 one-time keys used.
Provinces currently supporting COVID Alert:
Still waiting for:
Recently, the government of Canada acknowledged there was a bug within the COVID Alert app, and urged Canadians to update to iOS 14.0.1 to resolve the issue.
Download links:
