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1 in 10 residents surveyed said they would not install a contact tracing app if it was made available in the grand duchy. Photo: Shutterstock 

Whether or not to introduce a contact tracing app: it has been a heated topic of debate in the grand duchy since the beginning of the pandemic, with prime minister Xavier Bettel (DP) repeatedly arguing against such an application and health minister Paulette Lenert (LSAP) stating that although it might be an option at a later stage, the manual contact tracing currently in place would be much more efficient. 

However, the Appreciate survey gathered data from 1,300 Luxembourg residents over the period of a month during the 2020 summer to determine the acceptability of contact tracing apps in Luxembourg. 

The results, although multifaceted, indicate that “the support for a tracing app is high in Luxembourg,” according to the Statec report.

38%, or just over a third of respondents, said they would use a tracing app if it were available, 34% indicated that they might install it, whereas 11% were against such an application and would not use it.   

The main reasons of concern amongst respondents regarding the installations of a tracing app include worries about increased surveillance (43% of respondents), fear of having to self-isolate without a legitimate reason (40%) as well as hacking concerns (40%).

On the other hand, when asked about arguments in favour of installing a contact tracing app, 77.3% of respondents called on responsibility towards the community and 74.7% indicated a desire to protect friends and family. 

Another factor that played into the respondents' willingness to use a tracing app has to do with the design and the “technical features linked to privacy.” 65% preferred all data to be anonymised but made available to researchers, whereas 34% of respondents wanted all data to be deleted. 

A decentralised system seemed to gain more attraction then a centralised one, with 56% and 42% of respondents, respectively. 

Finally, survey data also indicated that Luxembourg residents would be more likely to install a European app rather than a global one. 

Summing up the main findings, the report concluded that “respondents are in favour of apps that: operate across borders and in Europe, can be installed on a voluntary basis, and store data on the users’ mobile device rather than on a central server” adding that “privacy concerns explain at least part of the discrepancy between declared support and observed low installation rates when an app is implemented.”