Ministry of Health: MySejahtera not a spying app

PETALING JAYA (Dec 1): The Ministry of Health (MOH) has reassured the public that claims of the MySejahtera app being used to spy on people is not true.

The ministry explained in a statement that the app’s function is “a contact tracing tool” and “to inform the public of any critical updates”, The Star reported yesterday.

It added that contact tracing had been done manually through interviews with patients and tracing their movements but with the introduction of MySejahtera app, “the ministry could obtain information faster and more accurately”.

The also assured that “its data privacy followed global standards, as well as being in line with the Medical Act 1971, Infectious Disease Act 1988, and Personal Data Protection Act 2010”.

“Contact tracing apps all over the world, like MySejahtera, require permissions from device owners to be used,” the ministry said.

It said the data collected belonged to the ministry and was managed by the National Cyber Security Agency (Nasca) and National Security Council.

Last week director-general of health Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said MySejahtera had aided in the tracing of 9,167 cases of Covid-19 infection.

It has 23.95 million users and 1.05 million premises are registered on the application. The app has also recorded 1.7 billion check-ins, with a daily average of 15 million.

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