Germany launches app to monitor spread of COVID-19

Partnering with the healthtech start-up Thryve, German’s public health authority, the Robert Koch Institute launched a smartwatch app to monitor the spread of the Coronavirus. The app called  Corona-Datenspende lets users link their wearable fitness tracking devices and wristbands and give their consent to scientific analyses of data which include exercise activities, pulse, temperature, and sleep, as well as socio-demographic data such as age, gender, and weight. The app is designed with algorithms that recognise symptoms linked to COVID-19 and prepares geographic results. The app will help the public health authority to determine how infections are spreading and whether containment measures are effective.