Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1292560
4 KARL AZZOPARDI A privacy assessment was car- ried out on a new COVID con- tact-tracing app, the Infor- mation and Data Protection Commissioner has confirmed, over doubts raised on a health ministry app's privacy safe- guards. Commissioner Saviour Cachia said a data protection impact assessment was submitted to the IDPC before government's COVID-19 contact tracing app was launched. Cachia said that on the basis of a legal and technical analysis, the app was given a favourable option to go live, saying the da- ta controller had "mitigated any possible risks which with the ap- propriate measures." The health ministry's COV- ID-19 contact tracing app was launched last week, with well over 60,000 downloads in the first week. Six people who tested positive over the past week had downloaded the app and were given a code to input in the sys- tem. Cachia said that the IDPC had analysed overall technical frame- work and specifications, and that these had ensure the controller was implementing the necessary data protection principles during development. "We made sure to check that the app developer had adopted the appropriate legal basis, se- curing any processing of data using the necessary technical measures, providing the neces- sary information to users, ensur- ing that the use of the app will be on a voluntary basis, providing reasonable retention periods and adopting a data protection by design and default approach," he said. The new COVID-19 app does not use geolocation data that can track users' movements, and only sends data to the health ministry once a user who is COVID-19 positive inputs a code given to them by the health authorities. The COVID Alert Malta app notifies users who could be at risk of having been exposed to the virus when COVID-19 pos- itive users input the code. The app only determines that contact with someone COV- ID-positive when both people have downloaded the app and came into close proximity to each other. The app sends out a Bluetooth signal with a se- cret code that is always being changed, randomly, and on a continuous basis. When two app users are in close proximity, their phones mutually store the oth- er's code, registering the event, how long it lasted, and the ap- proximate distance between the devices. Exposure must have taken place for more than 15 minutes at a distance of less than 2 metres. When a COVID-positive us- ers is provided with the code that they voluntarily input in the app, this broadcasts cryp- tographic keys to a server: those keys allow the system to track all the codes broadcast from the 'COVID-positive' smartphone, to those phones they came in contact with. The secret codes and a decen- tralised data processing make the Superintendent of Public Health unable to identify the smart- phone users. The app does not collect any identity data such as name, date of birth, address, tele- phone number, or email address. Importantly, all data – wheth- er stored on the device or on the server – is deleted when no longer relevant, "and certainly no later than 21 days after transfer between app and server", the de- velopers say. kazzopardi@mediatoday.com.mt maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 SEPTEMBER 2020 NEWS COVID-19 app passed privacy assessment For further information on this call and guidance on priorities kindly contact EUPA on: communications.eupa@gov.mt 25586132 www.eupa.org.mt In order to the respond to the circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 the Erasmus+ programme will exceptionally support 2 additional calls: Erasmus+ is the EU Programme in the fields of education, training, youth and sport for the period 2014-2020, Erasmus+ aims at boosting skills and employability, and modernising Education, Training and Youth work. Deadline for the submission of applications is the 29th of October 2020 at 12pm (noon CET) Strategic Partnerships are open to any type of organisation active in any field of education, training and youth or other socio-economic sectors (kindly refer to list of eligible organisations on our website) Partnerships for Digital Education Readiness in the field of school education, vocational education and training, and higher education Partnerships for Creativity in the field of youth, school education and adult education Enriching Lives, opening minds Woman, 92, is 31st COVID-19 death THE health ministry yesterday announced Malta's 31st death from COVID-19 was a 92-year- old woman, a resident at an un- identified care home. The elderly woman was con- firmed positive for the disease on 15 September and died dur- ing the night. The official statement said the woman "had underlying health conditions". Whilst expressing its sympa- thy to the family members of the woman, the ministry appealed to the public to adhere to min- istry guidelines on hand-wash- ing and the use of masks to help stop the spread of the virus. The health ministry an- nounced that it had registered 29 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday. Six cases were fam- ily members of other infected cases and two were from direct contact with other positive cas- es. One case was from social gatherings, another was import- ed and 3 cases came from Casa San Paolo home for the elderly. Malta has been struck by a sec- ond wave of coronavirus infec- tions that is now resulting in a higher incidence of death, espe- cially of elderly people. On Friday, three victims died of COVID-19 in 24 hours – two women aged 94 and 78, and a man, aged 90. The 94-year-old woman had tested positive on Friday, but had tested negative on the 9 and 14 September. The 78-year-old, a Mount Carmel Hospital pa- tient, first tested positive on 11 August, but then tested negative on both 28 August and 9 Sep- tember. Contact-tracing meas- ures are being carried out at Mount Carmel, with swab tests being carried out on those who came in close contact with the woman. The 78-year-old tested positive on 5 September: he was admit- ted to Mater Dei Hospital on 7 September, then transferred to St Thomas Hospital on the 19 September, and again to Mater Dei on 23 September. Commissioner Saviour Cachia said a data protection impact assessment was submitted to the IDPC before government's COVID-19 contact tracing app was launched Cases 2958 Active 623 Recoveries 2304 Deaths 31 Swabs 242,932 LATEST COVID-19 www.maltatoday.com.mt/covid19