Photo/Illutration A smartphone screen displays the COVID-19 contact tracking app, which had been available since June 19 (From COVID-19 contact tracking app)

The government is promising it will soon fix its new coronavirus contact-tracing app, after discovering software bugs that hamper it from functioning properly.

The health ministry announced on June 23 that it is suspending the app’s notification function until it can be patched.

The new app, designed to track whether people have come into contact with others who have contracted the virus, has been downloaded about 3.92 million times as of 5 p.m. on June 23.

The system suffers from a problem involving the official “transaction numbers” issued by the ministry.

People who test positive for the coronavirus are supposed to input a personal number they receive from the government into their app. Then, the system can notify any users they might have had contact with over the previous two weeks.

According to the health ministry, the app screen displays the “registration complete” sign even when incorrect numbers are entered.

However, incorrect numbers will not activate the notification function.

Since the app was introduced just days ago, on June 19, the government said there have been no app users who recently tested positive for the virus, so the health ministry considers the software problems to not have affected the service.

While fixing the bugs, various numbers fail to be registered into the system--regardless of whatever number was input.

While notifications are currently not being provided to app users, each smartphone can still record data on whom the user has been in contact with.

It is expected to take about one week to squash the system's bugs. After that, Google Inc. and Apple Inc. will need to review the app, and then the registration function will be returned to users.

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