The Morrison government has knocked back requests from law enforcement agencies for “added capabilities” in the Covid-19 contact tracing app, deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth has revealed.
On Thursday Scott Morrison appealed to Australians to download the tracing app as a way to support health services and sought to reassure them that only state and territory health authorities can access the data.
Morrison told reporters in Canberra the app was “a public health tool, to assist … when someone has contracted the coronavirus, to assist them in that work to contact others who may have been put at risk”.
Morrison said if Australians wanted to thank nurses, paramedics and doctors “then you can help them, by supporting and downloading the app which will be released soon”.