Covid-19 has killed more than 200,000 people and triggered a severe recession. Governments want to get people back to work, and a key part of this is contact-tracing technology that helps authorities track the virus and warn citizens who may be infected to stay home or get tested.
Tech companies have jumped at the opportunity, with the highest-profile effort coming from Apple Inc. and Google. These tech giants aren’t alone, though.
Here’s a round-up of initiatives from around the world: US Compared to the rest of the world, the U.S. is behind in developing contact-tracing apps.
There is no official national system, and a patchwork of apps have sprung up at the state and even municipal level. Apple and Google plan to released the first