A new smartphone app that can alert people if they are close to a confirmed case of Covid-19 is being developed - and should be ready to go in the next ten days.
Similar apps have been developed in other countries, such as Spain, Romania, Poland, and Slovakia, to help combat the spread of the coronavirus.
Use of the app will be on an opt-in basis, HSE Director of Communications Paul Connors said at a press conference this morning.
"This is a cross-government effort in relation to a very important piece of technology in fighting Covid-19," said Connors.
"It will alert people close to them.
"It will also provide really important information for people and it also feed back important information where people can, if they choose, provide information about their general state of well-being a particular time.
"That would be fed back in for our epidemiological assessment as we go along.
"We're still working very closely with a number of agencies to help us get through some peculiarities such as GDPR.
"We're working closely with the data protection commissioner on that.
"It's likely that this will be rolled out in the next 10 days or so. Certainly, it is an opt-in process for people."
