Hanoi, after Danang city, is the second locality in the country in terms of Bluezone downloads out of nationwide total mobile subscribers with nearly three million as of February 17, 

according to statistics from the Department of Computerization under the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC).

The number of Bluezone downloads increased to 29 million as of February 18. Photo: Thanh Ha

After community cases of Covid-19 infection were confirmed in Vietnam on January 28, numerous people have downloaded and used Bluezone, smartphone application for tracing those at risk of Covid-19 infection.

More than 29 million people in Vietnam have downloaded Bluezone as of February 18, compared to 12 million in 2020, the Department of Computerization said.

Since determining Bluezone as instrumental in tracing people’s interaction history, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has called on people in Vietnam to install the application.

Bluezone is a Bluetooth-based app that helps determine whether or not a person has come into contact with a Covid-19 patient.

The contract tracing app, developed by tech firm Bkav, uses Bluetooth Low Energy, a wireless personal area network technology, for smartphones to communicate in close range of up to two meters.

If a user is positive for coronavirus (known as person F0), health authorities can identify those who are exposed that person (known as F1), and the system will alert them about the risk of infection.

They will be also provided with instructions on contacting health authorities for assistance.

The app is completely confidential, keeping anonymity of users, and transparent, as it only stores data on the user’s phone and does not transfer user’s information or reveal their locations to the system.

Bluezone's effectiveness was proven when it helped the medical agency track thousands of people who had close contact with an infected person or a suspected case.

Thereby, the larger the community of Bluezone users is, the lighter the workload of the front liners in the anti-pandemic battle, said health authorities.