Merkel: Will recommend tracking apps if tests successful

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday that if tracking apps aimed at helping rein in coronavirus showed signs of being successful, she would recommend them and would be prepared to use them herself.

A group of European experts said on Wednesday they would soon launch technology for smartphones to help trace people who had come into contact with those infected with the virus, helping the health authorities act swiftly to halt its spread.

"It's clear that it would be on a voluntary basis but if the testing of these apps shows them to be good and set to be successful in better tracing cases of where there has been contact, I'd certainly be in favour of recommending that to citizens," she said in a telephone news conference.

"I would of course also be prepared to use it myself to perhaps help other people," she said.

(Reporting by Michelle Martin; Editing by Madeline Chambers)