Tunisia launches its Covid 19 contact tracing application

The Ehmi application, available on Android and currently being validated on iOS, was developed free of charge by a Tunisian start-up that usually creates digital marketing tools for foreign companies.

If a person using the application tests positive, the Observatory of Emerging Diseases (ONME) will warn other users who have crossed paths with the phone, based on information transmitted by the phone to a server.

Users “will not be able to declare themselves ill, to avoid false alarms, and notifications received by a user who has been in contact with a sick person will be followed up by a phone call from the ONME to make sure there is a follow-up,” the health minister told AFP.

All the population is encouraged to install the application on their phone.

While the World Health Organization (WHO) explains that tracing and isolation are “the backbone” of the fight against the coronavirus, countries such as China, South Korea, Singapore and Morocco have already launched applications of this kind to better control the pandemic.

Ehmi is already available on Google Play and the App Store.

Tunisia recorded Tuesday its first Covid-19-related death in ten days, the 46th victim among 1,044 confirmed cases.