The federal corona warning app, which has been widely used throughout the pandemic, will be put into “sleep mode” at the beginning of June due to the more relaxed situation. The Federal Ministry of Health has announced that the warning function will still be available until April 30th for those who test positive. In May, the systems will be prepared to put certain functions into an idle state from June 1st.
The app will not receive regular updates, but it can still be installed and kept on mobile devices, for example, to use the electronic vaccination cards. If the situation changes, the app can be quickly adjusted and woken up from sleep mode, according to the ministry spokesman.
Since its launch in June 2020, the app has been downloaded more than 48 million times, and almost nine million people have shared positive test results to warn other users. The current contracts with SAP and T-Systems, the service providers for the app, will expire on May 31st. The total costs incurred for development and operation for the project amount to over 220 million euros.
The initial cost estimate for the app was 50 million euros, but it has risen to 73 million euros in the past year due to the pandemic. In 2021 alone, 23 million euros have been earmarked for operational costs until the planned expiry of the contracts at the end of May.
In summary, the federal corona warning app will be put into “sleep mode” at the beginning of June due to the relaxed situation. The app will still be available until April 30th for those who test positive, and certain functions will be idle from June 1st. The app will not receive regular updates, but can still be installed and kept on mobile devices. If the situation changes, the app can be quickly adjusted and relaunched. The total costs for the project amount to over 220 million euros, with operational costs of 23 million euros for 2021 alone.
