The sources spoke to CBC News on condition that they were not named because they were not authorized to discuss the matter in public. The Globe and Mail first reported the news. The phone app, released in the summer of 2020, is designed to alert users to potential exposure to COVID-19. Users tested positive for the virus use a one-time key in the application to report their diagnoses. Their phones then exchange codes with other phones that have the app installed and alert those within two meters of an infected person for 15 minutes or more. The federal government encouraged the use of the application throughout the pandemic. The application does not collect personal information such as locations, addresses and phone contacts. The COVID Alert has been received just 6,893,423 times and only 57,704 one-time keys have been used to report infection, according to the government. Canada has seen 3.87 million COVID-19 infections and 41,000 related deaths since the pandemic began. Experts questioned the effectiveness of the application in limiting the spread of COVID-19, saying that it would require much more downloads and information from users to work. The appearance of the more contagious Omicron variant may also have impaired the application’s ability to monitor infections. Users in British Columbia, Alberta, Nunavut and the Yukon can not obtain one-time codes to report COVID-19 infections. There was also confusion as to whether the application was working. The application cost $ 20 million. Most of that money – $ 15.9 million – was spent on promotion and advertising, while $ 3.5 million was spent on developing and maintaining the app.
