COCOA, the government's smartphone app that notifies users if they might have come in contact with someone who has been infected with the novel coronavirus, has been malfunctioning on Android smartphones since late last September, the health ministry announced on Wednesday.
This means that 30% of the app's users have been unable to use its functions for four months. The ministry apologized and expressed its intention to fix the system by mid-February.
"I feel that we have to take great responsibility," Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Norihisa Tamura said at an emergency press conference on Wednesday evening. "We want to deeply reflect on that and do my best to regain the public's trust."
COCOA -- COVID-19 Contact-Confirming Application -- is a contact-tracing app introduced by the health ministry last June to prevent the spread of infection. The government has been requesting people entering the country to download the app as part of border control measures and encouraging restaurants and event venues to use the app as well. So far, 10,000 users have logged their positive virus tests into the app.
If a user who tests positive enters the number issued by the public health center into the app, other users who have come in contact with them -- within 1 meter for more than 15 minutes -- within the past 14 days will be notified.
According to the announcement, the issue occurred on Sept. 28, when the ministry's contractor modified the app. The settings were changed in such a way that the app incorrectly determined there was no contact even though there was.
As a result, people using the modified app did not receive any notifications.
The problem was discovered in January when the contractor checked the issue after seeing a number of users claim on social media that they never received any notifications, even though they must have come in contact with an infected person.
Android is Google's operating system on smartphones. The version on Apple's iPhones has not been affected.
According to the ministry, the application has been available for download since last June. As of Wednesday, there were 24.64 million downloads, of which the Android version accounted for 31% or about 7.7 million downloads.
The ministry said it will instruct the contractor to ensure thorough quality control of the service and increase the number of experts to verify the operation of the app to prevent any future issues.
COCOA has undergone a total of seven updates because of frequent problems, such as the app displaying "No contact confirmed" even after receiving a contact notification, and the inability to properly register users who tested positive.
The health ministry has also had problems twice in a computer system handling applications for employment adjustment subsidies, including one that applicants' personal information was able to be viewed by others.
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