Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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799. To ask the Minister for Health if the Covid-19 tracker application will be updated such that when a person is identified as a close contact and takes the necessary action, his or her close contact notification expires in order that he or she is able to receive future notifications. [26433/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy’s question - whether a person is identified as a close contact and takes the necessary action their close contact notification expires to enable them to receive future notifications - is not a feature of how the Covid Tracker app functions. Users of the app do not have to wait for one notification to 'expire' in order for the app user to receive a further notification - triggered by another individual being confirmed as Covid positive.

The app downloads information on close contacts every 15 to 20 minutes and should it be necessary to alert a user of the app that they have been in close contact with another individual who has been confirmed Covid positive, they will receive a separate alert specific to that encounter. This happens regardless of whether they are still taking the necessary actions associated with a previous and separate close contact notification or if it is the first notification they have ever received.