Covid app is downloaded 10m times – despite f laws
MORE than ten million Britons have downloaded the NHS virus tracing app despite a major glitch over the weekend.
Department of Health officials said the device had been installed on to 10.8 million smartphones since its launch on Thursday, including six million on the first day.
Assuming each download represents a person, this is equivalent to nearly a fifth of the population in England and Wales, where the app is available.
The enthusiasm for the device comes despite a major flaw which emerged on Saturday meaning thousands were unable to key in virus test results.
Up to 61,000 people in England who were tested in hospitals, Public Health England labs or as part of an Office for
National Statistics infection survey could not update the app. The Department of Health said the issue had been mostly resolved within 12 hours, although patients with negative results are still not able to upload them.
The glitch was the latest in a series of setbacks for the app, which was finally rolled out on Thursday morning four months later than planned.
Just hours after its launch, those with smartphones that are more than five years old reported being unable to download the device at all.
The app works by using Bluetooth technology to detect when users have come into close contact with someone who tests positive for the virus.
They then receive an alert telling them to self-isolate for 14 days and to book a test if they start suffering from Covid symptoms.
But although ‘close contact’ in theory means being within a two-metre radius of someone for at least 15 minutes, some people will receive alerts when they have been further away.
The app struggles to calculate distances so it may record someone as being in close contact even if they have been just over two metres away, and in rare cases up to four metres away.
Despite these problems, the Department of Health said the app had been given review scores averaging 4.5 out of 5 on the Apple App Store and 4.1 out of 5 on the Google Play store.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: ‘The enthusiastic response of over 10m people downloading the app in just three days has been absolutely fantastic. This is a strong start but we want even more people and businesses getting behind the app because the more of us who download it, the more effective it will be.
‘If you haven’t downloaded it yet I recommend you join the growing numbers who have, to protect yourself and your loved ones.’
The Government launched a major TV advertising campaign over the weekend, encouraging the public to ‘Protect your loved ones. Get the app.’
‘Enthusiastic response’