Made-in-Canada contact tracing app ready for testing in Ontario: Trudeau

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says a made-in-Canada mobile app to alert Canadians who may have been exposed to a person infected with COVID-19 is ready for testing in Ontario.

Trudeau says the app is completely voluntary and will not share or store any personal information, including a user's geographical location.

However he says the app will be more effective the more people download and use it.

It will work by asking people to anonymously tell the app if they have tested positive for COVID-19, and then all the phones that have recently been close to that phone for an extended time will alert their holders to a possible exposure to the illness.

Phone makers, including Apple and Google, have developed new software to use Bluetooth connections to log what other phones you have come into contact with recently.

Trudeau says the app will be ready for downloading early next month.