HSE retires covid tracker app and EU digital covid certificate

According to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, the app "earned the support of the Irish public". Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

The covid tracker app and the EU digital covid certificate are being retired by the HSE this evening.

The app, used by over 2m people at its peak, was introduced to support the country's contract tracing process.  It also helped people to display and share their covid vaccine certificates as services re-opened.

Speaking about the app's departure, HSE chief information officer Fran Thompson, said: ‘‘The covid tracker app was developed using an Irish partner, and successfully used to track symptom spread, store personal records of symptoms, and share key epidemiological figures and trends directly with the public. Later, the app served as a user-friendly, accessible way for members of the public to store their EU digital covid certs.

“The HSE would like to thank the public for their overwhelming support of the covid tracker app, for taking up vaccines in record numbers, and for the many other important, personal and difficult steps they took to support our covid response and protect the population over the last three years. 

"We hope to be able to deliver similar, effective digital health tools to support our health service in the future.” 

According to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly the app "earned the support of the Irish public".

He said: “Our national covid-19 response saw a range of effective digital health solutions delivered at pace by the HSE, cross-Government agencies and partners. 

It was an example of effective, innovative collaboration between the HSE, Department of Health and wider Government, and earned the support of the Irish public.” 

Less than 48 hours after its launch in July 2020, the app had a million downloads and, in its lifetime, amassed a total of 4.2m registrations.

The covid tracker was at its peak usage on January 6, 2022, with over 2m active users, accounting for 53% of people aged 16 and over. 

It issued 102,439 one-time codes to people who tested positive for covid-19 and 24,857 close contacts anonymously uploaded their contacts.

29% of people who received a close contact notification tested positive which meant they could take action quickly to self-isolate or restrict their movements and prevent the spread of the virus.

The digital covid certificate was introduced in the EU in 2021, in response to the lifting of restrictions domestically and across international borders.  It allowed for certificates for test results, evidence of recovery, and vaccination. 

Since that time, over 10m vaccine certs, 1.1m negative test certs and 650,000 recovery certs have been provided to people in Ireland.

The EU regulation that requires member states to issue digital certificates expires today, and certs for negative tests or as evidence of recovery will no longer be issued from July 1, 2023. 

The HSE will continue to issue people with proof of covid-19 vaccination via email or by post on request from HSELive, after their vaccine.

Just over 9,000 people in Ireland have died since the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020.