Containment is a key strategy to address and restrict the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Containment requires:

• the rapid identification and quarantine of infected individuals;
• determination of persons with whom infected individuals have had close contact in the previous days and weeks; and
• decontamination of any locations that the infected individual has visited.

To assist with containment, some countries in the Americas have developed contact tracing apps with different approaches and functionalities .

Cullen International’s latest report covers national mobile contact tracing apps and the relevant privacy policies.

View visual on what is ‘contact tracing’

Some findings from the Americas research include that:

• most countries have launched a national contact tracing app;
• in Canada and the United States, the decision to develop contact tracing apps is not a federal but a state competence;
• most countries implemented apps based on a centralised model, while Mexico only gathers and stores health data related to people with COVID-19 symptoms; and
• individuals voluntarily consent to provide the data by installing mobile apps and consenting to share their location and health contact information.

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