Covid 19 coronavirus: the government considers the tracking application to be mandatory

By RNZ’s Katie Scotcher

The government is actively considering requiring the use of the Covid-19 tracking app, in an attempt to increase the number of people who scan.

There are more than two million people registered for the app, but in January the average number of scans per day fell to 465,000.

In this afternoon’s Covid-19 update, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said that use of the app increases significantly when there is an outbreak.

“We don’t necessarily prepare well, so when we’re in a position where people are comfortable, they’re not always good at taking those precautionary measures, but when we ask New Zealanders to speed up because we’re responding to something, Kiwis are quite responsive, “Hipkins said.

Last year, officials discussed whether people should be required to scan with the app at large events and in places like bars and restaurants where physical distancing is difficult.

One of the reasons the government has been hesitant to make use of the app mandatory is the potential cost of compliance, particularly for small businesses, Hipkins said.

“We will certainly see how we can foster greater acceptance and I am not ruling anything out at this point.”

When asked by reporters why the onus would fall on a business to make sure customers sign up, rather than the customers themselves, Hipkins said it was something that was being “worked out.”

Officials are looking at what tools the government could provide companies to increase acceptance of the app and what other countries are doing to encourage people to use tracking apps.

“Experiences around the world where you may have roaming groups of people walking around to encourage adoption of scanning, that takes some of the pressure off companies to have to do it themselves,” Hipkins said.

He noted that larger stores, such as supermarkets, are “well placed” to have a staff member at the front entrance encouraging people to register.

“I want to thank the supermarkets that are doing that. For the smaller retailers where they may only have one or two people working at any given time, that can be a huge challenge for them,” he said.