Alberta’s COVID-19 tracking app ‘ABTraceTogether’ has been used to track just 20 cases since it was launched six months ago.
The provincial government has revealed that it has been downloaded more than 260,000 times. The Alberta government has also slightly downgraded previous claims that it had resolved issues with the iOS version of the app with a recent update.
You have recognized that problems can persist when the application runs in the background on iPhones. the CBC notes Experts have said that the problem can only be solved if Apple changes the way its operating system grants permission to third-party applications.
Apple’s restrictions are in place as a safety and battery saving measure, and it would be highly unlikely that it would make any changes.
This comes as Alberta Prime Minister Jason Kenney has rejected the COVID alert. The federal COVID Alert exposure notification app has been downloaded about 5.2 million times and sent 4,200 exposure alerts.
Kenney has stated that Alberta no longer plans to log into the COVID Alert app because ABTraceToegther is more helpful in stopping the spread of the virus.
“This has nothing to do with whether you are federal or provincial. ABTraceTogether is, in our opinion, simply a better and more effective public health tool, ”Kenney told reporters on November 6.
Other than Alberta, British Columbia is the only other province not logged into the app. The provincial government of BC has stated that COVID Alert is very “non-specific” and that it will not adopt the app until some changes are made.