As of August 11, as many as 15.7 million people downloaded Bluezone, a domestically developed contact-tracing mobile app to identify and alert people who have interacted with COVID-19 patients, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications.

Bluezone is a domestically developed contact-tracing mobile app to identify
and alert people who have interacted with COVID-19 patients

The figure witnessed an increase of 15.1 million ones compared to the number recorded as of July 25. 

Around one million Vietnamese people install the app each day. 

Da Nang City, the nation’s biggest COVID-19 hotspot, took the lead among localities, with 34.13% of smart phone users installing the app, followed by Ha Noi 23.83%, Quang Ninh Province 22.61%, Ho Chi Minh City 22.05% and Bac Ninh Province 17.84%. 

A total number of 4.8 million Bluezone users have been recorded in these five localities. 

Thanks to the app, the health sector detected 21 cases who had contact with previously-announced COVID-19 patients. 

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung said that localities should enhance communications on Bluezone among local people to take full advantages of the app. 

The nation targets 45 million active Bluezone users out of Viet Nam’s 76.8 million smartphone users.

The smartphone app Bluezone relies on Bluetooth signal to log when two users are near each other, information that can later be used for contact tracing of COVID-19 cases.

Bluezone would help authorities quickly identify people who are likely to be COVID-19 patents, helping prevent larger outbreaks of the disease.

As of August 12, Viet Nam has confirmed 866 COVID-19 infection cases, 402 of whom were declared clear of the virus.