"Perhaps such an application would have made sense in the midst of the pandemic, but not now when new cases of coronavirus practically are not registered among the Germans. It is clear that the application was released too late when there is no real need for it", Breininger said.
According to the politician, the app is only one of the instances of Berlin's "massive misappropriation of funds during the coronavirus pandemic."
The federal government commissioned SAP SE and Deutsche Telekom AG to develop the app in April. The development cost an estimated 65 million euros, while the project's total budget exceeded 100 million euros.
The app was launched on 15 June and has since been downloaded around 15 million times, according to the federal government. To serve its purpose and notify users about potentially dangerous contacts, the app requires closer to 40 million users. Meanwhile, the app cost taxpayers over 100 million euros ($113 million).
Germany, in the meantime, has managed to make the spread of its outbreak significantly slower than the European neighbors. On Monday, the German health authorities reported only 159 new cases and one fatality, which took the cumulative case count to 198,963, including 9,064 fatalities.
