Corona app: Merkel cabinet in dispute with first project team? Braun admits omissions

Germany is waiting for a Corona app - like other countries already have. Chancellor-in-chief Helge Braun is now speaking.

• The federal government wants to use a "tracing app" to track the corona infection chains * .
• Health Minister Jens Spahn now emphasized the requirements for such a "Corona app" .
• At the same time, the CDU politician announced a large-scale campaign .
• The most important Sars-CoV-2 facts * , the nationwide case number card * and the  "Corona News" on Facebook.

Update from June 14: The  Coronavirus warning app should have been launched at the end of April - and Chancellor-in-Office  Helge Braun has now admitted deficiencies in development. "From today's perspective, we should have made the decision to entrust the companies with the technical implementation of the Corona app ten days earlier," said the CDU politicianWelt am Sonntag . 

Braun also spoke of differences in the original project team that would have prevented quick success. At the end of April, the federal government decided not to commission the project team, but the companies SAP and T-Systems to implement the app.

When does the Corona app come? Spahn continues to put off - but now there seems to be a date

Update of 13 June, 10:53: The warning app against the coronavirus apparently is not much in the way. According to the IT service provider TÜV Informationstechnik, the app runs stably and safely without spying on the users. According to TÜV-IT boss Dirk Kretzschmar, the German press agency said on Saturday that the Corona app had been checked on behalf of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI).

According to the broadcaster RTL / ntv, the German Corona warning app is to be officially launched next Tuesday. From then on, it should also be available for download, as the broadcaster reported on Friday. The federal government did not initially provide a specific date, so far it has only been said that the app should be released next week.

Corona app: data espionage not possible?

When checking by TÜV-IT, it was checked, among other things, whether unauthorized persons were using the

Corona app

Could tap data. "That's not the case. The users don't have to be afraid of monitoring. ”The developers at SAP and T-Systems also ensured that nobody could access other data via the app. 

Early versions of the corona virus app were still unstable, said Kretzschmar. “In the end, however, the testers had a very positive picture because everything is now running very stable. They were also pretty impressed with how quickly and in what quality the developers reacted to vulnerabilities that were still discovered. ”

When does the Corona app come? Spahn continues to put off - and has a reason ready

Berlin - Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) has announced a new announcement regarding the planned Corona app : “We will be presenting the app over the next week. We needed this time for development because we have high demands: The app must be able to be used on all end devices and should also measure, for example, when you listen to music on your cell phone, ”said Spahn of the Rheinische Post .

How secure is the # Corona app? When does she come? And how should millions be motivated to install? Questions to Federal Minister of Health Jens #Spahn. https://t.co/39puTmRRBt

When does the Corona app come? Spahn (CDU) refers to data protection

Spahn stressed that the app had strict requirements in data protection and in energy efficiency meet. "No one uses an app that drains the cell phone's battery in a few hours." He wanted to avoid that the app would be deleted by many because it consumed too much energy.

Users can enter the app if they are infected with the Sars CoV-2 virus * . Other users who were in the vicinity of the infected person will then be informed. The data should be anonymized and processed decentrally.

Corona app launch: Health Minister Spahn (CDU) justifies delay

A Corona app has been in use in France since the end of May . The delay in introducing the German App founded Spahn with the "high standards" of the software. It should be able to be used on all end devices and meet strict data protection, data security and energy efficiency requirements.

According to an ARD survey published last week, significantly fewer than half of Germans want to use the app. 42 percent of the participants announced that they wanted to use the app on their cell phones.

Use of the Corona app: Spahn warns against too high expectations

In addition, Spahn announced a "broad-based campaign" by the federal government , which would promote the use of the app by the citizens. Anyone who downloads the app on their smartphones helps to contain the corona virus, he said.

On the spread of the app, Spahn said the expectations should not be raised too high: "If we convince a few million citizens of the app in the coming weeks, then I'm already satisfied." 

There is currently massive criticism of Jens Spahn's Ministry of Health. Did the federal agency gamble and cheat dealers? The affected suppliers of protective equipment apparently want to sue.

AFP / dpa / frs

* Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editorial network.

Rubric list picture: © AFP / MICHAEL KAPPELER