Without successful tracing, we won't be able to ease up on lockdown - German minister

Asked about the possibility of using mobile phone tracking to help trace the spread of coronavirus infections, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Thursday it would be hard to ease Germany's lockdown measures without adequate tracking.

"Society needs this debate in my view," Spahn told a news conference.

Some countries, notably South Korea, have been successful in containing outbreaks with the aid of mobile phone location data, but the suggestion is extremely controversial in Germany, where the memory of two authoritarian dictatorships has made people extremely sensitive to privacy concerns.