Germany's coronavirus warning app to be available in EU countries

Germany's official COVID-19 warning app would be "gradually" made available in international app stores, public health institute Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced via Twitter Thursday, reported Xinhua.

The warning app that was launched on June 16 would now also be offered for free download in ten European countries such as the Netherlands, France, Austria, Poland, Denmark and Bulgaria, according to RKI.

According to the German government, the app informs citizens who had been in contact with an infected person in order to detect and break chains of infection.

However, Health Minister Jens Spahn warned that the app was "not a panacea, not a free ride ticket, but an important additional tool in containing the pandemic."

By Thursday, the app reached 13 million downloads in Germany, according to the RKI. This corresponds to around 15 percent of the country's population or 25 percent of active smartphone users.

Researchers at Oxford University showed that a tracing app as part of a pandemic concept including hygiene and distance regulations already had a positive effect when only 15 percent of the population would use such an app.

On Wednesday, the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) announced that a new registration form for requesting COVID-19 tests would soon be available.

The new form would contain a QR code which would enable German citizens to view test results online and, in the event of confirmed COVID-19 infection, to activate the result in the official warning app.