A year since it was launched, COVIDSafe has only found 17 cases.
A year ago to the day, the Australian government went live with its coronavirus contact tracing app, COVIDSafe. To date, the app has only accounted for a total of 17 cases found, with 81 close contacts of those 17 identified through the app, too. Those 17 cases were all in New South Wales. As previously disclosed by the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA), the app cost in excess of AU$5 million. DTA CEO Randall Brugeaud told senators during Estimates last month that the cost to keep the app’s lights on, so far, has been around AU$900,000. “The spend to date on the app is AU$6,745,322.31, that’s to 31 January,” he said. “That includes a combination of development, which is the actual build of the app, and the hosting of the app. So the breakdown is, for the development of the app, AU$5,844,182.51 and the hosting is AU$901,139.80.” Former Opposition Leader and now Shadow Minister for Government Services Bill Shorten questioned how much longer money would be spent on keeping the app active.
