Updated 28 July 2026

1. About Germwatch

Germwatch is a public‑health intelligence project operated by Premedical School Ltd, a UK‑registered company.

Germwatch is an anonymised symptom‑reporting platform that produces aggregated infection trends, heatmaps, and weekly intelligence summaries. It is designed solely for public‑health monitoring and community awareness.

Germwatch does not provide medical diagnosis or personalised clinical advice. If you are unwell or concerned about your symptoms, please seek medical help.

2. What Information We Collect

Germwatch collects only the information needed to understand broad patterns of illness. We do not collect direct personal identifiers.

2.1 Information you provide

When you submit a report, we receive:

• Symptoms you select
• Date of onset
• Country, region, and town/city
• Anonymised latitude/longitude (coordinates are randomly offset by up to 1 km before storage)
• Exposure and vulnerability indicators (e.g., travel, pregnancy, age‑related vulnerability)
• The date your report was submitted

2.2 Information we do not collect

Germwatch does not ask for or store:

• Your name
• Your address
• Email or phone number
• NHS number
• Exact GPS coordinates
• Full postcodes
• Device identifiers
• Advertising or tracking cookies
• Any information that directly identifies you

2.3 Technical information

Standard server logs (e.g., IP address) may be processed for security and abuse‑prevention purposes. These logs are not linked to symptom reports and are deleted regularly.

3. How Your Data Is Used

Your anonymised data is used to:

• Update the public infection heatmap
• Monitor trends in symptoms and illness
• Support early detection of unusual activity
• Produce weekly intelligence summaries
• Improve the Germwatch service

Your data is never used for marketing, advertising, profiling, or sold to third parties.

4. Location Privacy

Protecting location privacy is a core design principle.

Germwatch uses:

• Randomised 1 km coordinate blurring (irreversible anonymisation)
• Point‑level plotting with privacy protection
• Minimum necessary precision

We do not store or display exact locations such as home addresses, building‑level coordinates, or full postcodes.

Geocoding (turning a town or postcode into coordinates) is performed by OpenCage, a GDPR‑compliant provider operating under a Data Processing Agreement. Postcodes used for geocoding are not stored.

5. Red‑Flag Symptoms and Safety

If you report symptoms that may indicate a medical emergency, Germwatch will:

• Display an urgent safety message
• Provide guidance on seeking appropriate care
• Not include the report in the heatmap or dataset

6. Legal Basis for Processing

Premedical School Ltd processes anonymised health data under:

• GDPR Article 6(1)(e) – processing in the public interest
• GDPR Article 9(2)(i) – public‑health monitoring and disease surveillance

Because Germwatch does not store identifiable personal data, individual data‑protection rights (such as access or deletion of specific reports) generally do not apply, as reports cannot be linked back to an identifiable person.

7. Data Retention and Deletion

Germwatch stores anonymised symptom reports. These reports do not contain direct identifiers and cannot be linked back to individuals.

Reports are retained indefinitely because long‑term data is essential for tracking seasonal patterns and supporting public‑health insight.

You may request deletion of any associated technical data (such as security‑related logs), and we will remove all information that can reasonably be identified within 30 days.

8. Sharing Your Data

Germwatch may share aggregated, anonymised data with:

• Public‑health bodies
• Academic researchers
• Local authorities
• NHS partners
• International health organisations

We do not share raw, individual‑level reports.

9. Security Measures

We use industry‑standard security practices, including:

• Encrypted connections
• Secure UK/EU‑based servers
• Strict access controls
• Regular privacy and security reviews

10. Children and Young People

Germwatch is suitable for people aged 13 and over.

11. Your Rights

Because Germwatch does not store identifiable personal information, we cannot retrieve, delete, or provide copies of individual reports.

You have the right to understand what we collect, how we use it, and to decline to submit a report.

12. Cookies

Germwatch does not use cookies for tracking or advertising.

Essential technical cookies may be used only for security or load‑balancing.

13. Sub‑Processors

Premedical School Ltd may use trusted UK/EU‑based service providers for:

• Hosting
• Security
• Data processing

These providers cannot access or reconstruct identifiable data.

Geocoding is performed by OpenCage (EU/EEA), under a GDPR‑compliant Data Processing Agreement. Location queries are not stored.

Contact Us

Premedical School Ltd Company Number: 12828996 Registered in the United Kingdom

General enquiries: contactus@premedicalschool.co.uk Privacy enquiries: contact@germwatch.co.uk

Hosting Location: Germany (EU/EEA) Our servers are located in Germany to ensure secure, GDPR‑compliant data processing.

If you have questions about this privacy notice or how we handle data, please contact us using the details above.