An application for the diagnosis of coronavirus has been launched in Iran. But it keeps track of users

VICE reports that in early March, most of the Iranian population received a newsletter from the Ministry

health care of the country in which they were offeredinstall the AC19 application. The authorities noted that this would make it possible to determine whether a person or his loved ones have coronavirus. To do this, they had to pass a special survey.

“Dear compatriots, beforego to the hospital or medical center, install and use this software to determine if you or your loved ones are infected with the coronavirus, ”the message said. At the end there was a link to download the application.

Internet activists later said the applicationcannot determine if users have a coronavirus. However, it collects a huge amount of data about citizens, including names, addresses, dates of birth, and can track their location in real time.

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How many people downloaded the AC19 application, until the endis unknown. However, on March 11, Iranian Minister of Information and Communication Technology Mohammad Jawad Azari Jahromi published a map on Twitter, where dots indicate the location of about three million users of the application.

March 14 died of coronavirus in Iranalmost 100 people. Since February 19, 611 people out of more than 12.7 thousand infected have become victims, said Advisor to the Minister of Health of Iran Ali Reza Vahabzade.