The Senate has approved the law on the CoronaMelder app. 51 senators gave their support in a roll call vote. 19 senators voted against. National implementation will start next Saturday.
The CoronaMelder app warns people who have been close to someone who is infected. Use of the app is voluntary. The app will be introduced nationally on Saturday 10 October, healthcare minister Hugo de Jonge announced.
Earlier Tuesday morning, more than two-thirds of the senate indicated that they were positive about the bill. In addition to coalition parties VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie, GroenLinks, PvdA, SP and SGP were also in favor. But then De Jonge still had to answer a number of questions. At the beginning of September, the House of Representatives already approved the bill.
Test capacity
Most parties emphasized the importance of privacy during the debate about the CoronaMelder. Another important point is the ten-day home isolation that people must observe when they receive a notification via the app that they have been close to an infected person. They should do that even if they have no complaints.
This can cause major problems for many people, especially if they would receive such a report more often, they say. That is why, in their view, De Jonge should promise and arrange that the testing capacity will increase quickly.
Voluntary
De Jonge again emphasized in the debate that use of the app will be completely voluntary. For example, employers should not ask employees to install the app, or even ask if they have done so, he emphasized.
An employer may, however, make a general appeal, according to the minister, by putting up a poster, for example.
Five regions
About 1.3 million people have now downloaded the CoronaMelder app, but it can now only be used in five regions on a trial basis. According to the ministry, a report has now been made sixty times via the app.
How does it work?
Every time your phone is near another phone with the corona app, both phones exchange a unique, random code. This code is stored on both phones. The app keeps a list of all those exchanged codes, each of which represents a contact moment. That list is only on your phone.
Since the codes are random, you cannot find out who belongs to which code. If someone becomes infected, they can send their list of codes to a central server. The list is then forwarded to anyone with the app. The app then checks whether there is a code on your list that is also on the list of the infected patient. If so, you have been in contact and you will see a warning.
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