Australia has launched a smartphone app to trace people who come in contact with coronavirus patients despite privacy concerns that authorities insisted Sunday were unwarranted.

The COVIDSafe app uses a phone's Bluetooth wireless signal to store information about people's interactions, and can be accessed by health officials if a person contracts coronavirus.

Australia's chief medical officer Brendan Murphy said the app would speed up a "laborious process" for health authorities tracking down users who have been within 1.5 metres of someone who has the virus.

"What this will do is give a list of the mobile phone numbers of those people who have been in contact within that distance for 15 minutes or more," he said. Read more at slotxo