GH COVID-19 Tracker hits16,000 downloads in less than 24 hours

The Minister of Communications, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful says the GH COVID-19 Tracker app has been downloaded 16,000 times in less than 24 hours after it was launched on Monday.

According to her, about 100 reports of Coronavirus-like symptoms have also been made through the app.

Addressing the press on Tuesday, Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said the reports would be forward to the Ghana Health Service.

“As at this morning, there’ve been 16,000 downloads already even though it’s just through the web link on android,” she said.

She added that the app would also be made available on the Apple store “but the information we got was that many Ghanaians are using android phones and so we will reach a larger population quickly.”

On the need for an app, Mrs Owusu-Ekuful noted that the app was Ghana specific and that “We are interested in tracking the virus in our country and so it is specifically designed to be used in Ghana.”

She said for people who were not using smart phones, they could dial *769# and follow the necessary instructions to get their symptoms recorded.

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful also welcomed suggestions to improve the setup of the app.

What is the GH COVID-19 Tracker app?

The COVID-19 Tracker App, through the common platform of mobile networks, is able to trace contacts of persons infected by the virus, show where they have been in recent time, through various telephone related data, and link such people to health professionals for urgent action to be taken.

The app, through same telephone related data, is also able to report contacts which are, or have recently been to COVID-19 hit countries, as well as track whether individuals required to self-quarantine, are indeed doing so.