ACT residents have been thanked and encouraged to keep using the "incredibly helpful" Check In CBR app to combat Covid following recent news about the federal government ignoring warnings about its similar but troubled app.
Speaking at a media conference on Saturday, ACT chief health officer Dr Kerryn Coleman said the local app had been "an enormous help".
"I don't think we would've been able to deliver the response that we have done so far without it," she said.
"I can't tell you how many of the cases we've extracted data for or exactly how many contacts that have been identified, but the large number of close contacts that we've been able to identify is a testament to the usefulness [of the app] and the team's ability to access that data really quickly.
"That goes across all ACT government directorates who are involved in that, but also the community.
"Thank you so much everybody for using it."
Dr Coleman's comments come after The Canberra Times revealed that the federal government ignored a secret report about the shortfalls of its $8m COVIDSafe app.
She said the local app had become "part of our routine now".
"That's really pleasing to see. Just to reassure everyone, we are using this data. It is incredibly helpful, so please keep using it," she said.
Asked if there were undetected transmissions in the community, she said she was confident that if contact tracers were given information - including via the app and other means - they would be "able to get on top of the number of contacts".
"Clearly that means they need to have that information available to them," she said.
"So this is once again my implore out to everybody to rack your brains about that information if you are a case and we're interviewing you about where you're going."
As of Saturday, the ACT has 233 active cases.
