The German Corona warning app will soon be available in Turkish. A previously announced update should appear this week.
The previously announced update of the Corona warning app in Turkish should appear in the current week. The update "will probably be available by the end of this week," said government spokesman Steffen Seibert (60) according to a prior announcement in conversation with the WDR radio wave "Cosmo". So far, the app can only be used in German and English.
An Arabic language version is also "very far in preparation". However, Seibert does not announce a specific release date for this. Accordingly, further versions in Russian, Polish, Bulgarian and Romanian are planned, for which there is still no exact release period.
Current numbers for the app
The corona crisis had generally shown that multilingualism was "a reality lived in Germany". This has to be done "with our information, which is supposed to be there for everyone in Germany." According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the app has been downloaded 15.8 million times (as of July 15, 2020). In the interview to be broadcast on Thursday, July 16, Seibert explains that the German app has had a strong start. "No Corona warning app in Europe, I think even worldwide, is as successful as ours."
In addition, the government spokesman defends the long development period: "Of course you can say – four weeks earlier would have been better. But we will have to deal with this virus for many more months. As the most important thing during development, we said: There must be data protection and IT security be right."
Users can call a hotline and then enter positive test results in the app. Other users who have been in close contact with the person for a long time will then be informed anonymously about a possible risk of infection. The hotline has so far issued 513 teleTANs (as of July 13, 2020) to verify a positive test in the app. It is not known how many people have been informed about a risk as a result, since information is stored locally on the smartphone of the respective user for data protection reasons.
App useful for vacationers?
According to Seibert, the government is committed to promoting an app solution at European level. So far, the German Corona warning app has not been able to exchange information with other European warning apps. Therefore, German citizens in Austria, Italy or other European travel destinations should still use the app used there.