As the number of cases of COVID has been increasing in China, the local government is once again enforcing lockdowns in the country. This time, a new lockdown in the city of Zhengzhou puts the operations of the main iPhone plant at risk.
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As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Apple has been requiring all customers to wear a mask in its retail stores, a policy the company unsuccessfully tried to discontinue last year. However, it seems that the company once again wants to drop the mask mandate for Apple Stores in the United States.
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Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Apple has closed several of its retail stores around the world. It was only in June 2021 that all Apple Stores around the world were open simultaneously for the first time in 75 weeks, but now the company has once again decided to close some of its U.S. and Canada stores due to the new COVID-19 variant.
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As part of Apple’s effort to fully reopen offices, the company will rely on testing employees for COVID-19 multiple times per week, Bloomberg reports. The decision to use COVID testing as a tool for in-person work environments runs in contrast to other tech companies including Google and Facebook.
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To boost COVID-19 vaccination with young people, Washington DC’s Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that the city would give away AirPods, gift cards, or a $25,000 scholarship for those who receive their first shot.
As reported by the Hill, people over 12-17 years old who get vaccinated at Brookland MS, Sousa MS, or Johnson MS will receive an AirPods with their first shot and a chance to win a $25,000 scholarship, iPad, and headphones.
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After England’s NHS app brought support to a COVID-19 passport last week, the Australian government is doing the same via Express Plus Medicare for its iPhone users. Starting now in Australia, anyone that received two shots of Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines is eligible to add a digital certificate to the Apple Wallet.
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The England COVID-19 passport is now more convenient for iOS users. According to a report by BBC, the NHS app has brought support to the Apple Wallet.
People in England can now store their COVID Pass in the NHS app, which, among other things, is used for COVID vaccination records. The government says this can be used at events and venues in England but not for international travel.
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Following the breaking news that Google will require employees returning to its offices in October to get the COVID vaccine, Tim Cook has shared that the company is continuing to “monitor things daily” before deciding if that’s “the right answer or not.”
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Apple has updated its Developer’s page to again waive the App Store requirement for paid online group services to use App Store in-app purchases for payments. This comes as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause businesses to pivot to digital services rather than in-person.
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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced today that it’s going to launch a COVID passport for test results and vaccine certificates for the iPhone in mid-April, reports Reuters.
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The vaccination against COVID-19 has started in several countries around the world, and we have already seen some apps that let users prove that they have taken the vaccine with just their iPhones. Now Apple is tightening the App Store rules to ensure that apps offering proof of vaccination are only submitted by health authorities.
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Using the Apple Watch to detect signs of COVID-19 infections in users is more than just a hypothetical now.
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January 16, 2021: Updated with latest states including Hawaii and Wisconsin.
Apple and Google announced plans to build COVID-19 tracing into iPhone and Android operating systems on April 10, 2020. The move marked a major partnership between the top two mobile operating system competitors in an effort to limit the spread of COVID-19. Platform updates to enable the COVID-19 contact tracing feature on iOS and Android were publicly released 40 days later on May 20, 2020.
So how do you participate in COVID-19 contact tracing efforts with your smartphone? In this story, 9to5Mac is tracking which U.S. states and territories are using Exposure Notifications API in iOS and Android apps.
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Apple has released iOS 12.5.1 for older iPhones and iPads today, roughly one month after the release of iOS 12.5. The update includes bug fixes for the COVID-19 exposure notification feature.
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As the COVID-19 vaccine has begun to be distributed in the United States, Los Angeles County has developed a new way to let its residents prove that they have taken the vaccine. Citizens can now add the COVID-19 vaccination proof in the Apple Wallet app and in Google Pay for Passes.
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Apple has released iOS 12.5 for older iPhone models today, bringing support for COVID-19 exposure notifications. This is a major change as it expands contact tracing to iPhones that don’t support iOS 14, including devices like the massively popular iPhone 6 series.
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After launching a pilot program for digital contact tracing last month, the state of California has made contract tracing available today, December 10. That’s about half a year after Apple/Google made the feature available on iPhone and Android. But better late than never as the support will allow the almost 40 million people living in California to stay safer amid the pandemic.
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Facebook announced today more changes in its policy against fake news on its social networks. The company will now be more aggressive in punishing users who share misleading information on Facebook and also Instagram.
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A new report from the BBC today says that many iPhone users are reporting issues with the United Kingdom National Health Service’s COVID-19 contact tracing application. The app, which uses the Apple and Google Exposure Notification API, is said to be suffering from a “blue screen glitch.”
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Apple released a new app earlier this year in the United States to inform iOS users on how to stay safe and prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The Apple COVID-19 app was updated today with improvements and new recommendations to prevent the virus.
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Analyst firm MBLM shared its 2020 brand intimacy study this past spring with Apple taking first place in the tech industry. However, Amazon and Disney (considered retail brands) beat Apple in the overall rankings. Now MBLM has done another brand intimacy study in the US through the lens of the pandemic, and Apple has come out on top as an overwhelming majority of US teens have been found to be iPhone users.
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Apple and Google have partnered to create a COVID-19 exposure notification technology that works on both iPhone and Android smartphones. This technology is slowly being adopted around the world, and today Scotland announced a new app based on the COVID-19 contact tracing API.
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Apple has announced that it will release iOS 13.7 to the public today, including a major expansion of the COVID-19 Exposure Notification platform. Apple and Google have unveiled a new Exposure Notifications Express system that allows public health authorities to support COVID-19 contact tracing without developing and maintaining their own application.
Update: iOS 13.7 is now available. You can update via the Settings app on your iPhone. Apple has also released iPadOS 13.7 with bug fixes.
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The Exposure Notification API developed by Apple and Google is slowly being adopted by public health agencies around the world. And now North Dakota, Wyoming, and Alabama have just announced that they’re launching new apps with Exposure Notifications to alert users and reduce the spread of COVID-19.
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