Seven million people have downloaded and registered for the COVIDSafe app.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Health Department associate secretary Caroline Edwards said those 17 people,all identified in NSW,led contact tracers to a total of 80 close contacts.
In Victoria,1851 people contacted by the state's contact tracers had the app on their phones,Ms Edwards said.
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"Obviously in the context of very strong restrictions people aren't having contact with many people,but we think that puts us in an extremely good position to use the app going forward,"she said.
The app was developed as part of the government's COVIDSafe strategy,which,at a cost of about $70 million,has included advertising about social distancing and good hygiene practices.
Opposition health spokesman Chris Bowen said Labor was supportive of any tool to ease the burden of the pandemic. But given Australia had recorded 27,520 cases of COVID-19 and uncovered hundreds of thousands of close contacts,the app was clearly ineffective.
"This app has been a huge bungle,"he said.