NHS contact-tracing app finally launches
A COVID-19 contact tracing app will be made available today to help prevent a second wave.
Smartphone users in England and Wales can finally download the app which will automatically notify people if they have been near someone with coronavirus.
At least 15% of the population need to use it for it to have any affect on the outbreak.
Health Secretary
Matt Hancock said:
“We have worked extensively with tech companies, international partners and privacy and medical experts and learned from the trials to develop an app that is secure, simple to use and will help keep our country safe. I urge everyone who can to download and use the app to protect themselves and loved ones.”
Users can also get local risk alerts, check their symptoms, book a test as well as check in to public venues to record where they have been.
Mobile network operators such as Vodafone, Three, EE and O2, Sky and Virgin confirmed in-app activity will not use up customers’ data allowance.
The app has been piloted twice on the Isle of Wight and in the East London borough of Newham. The first Isle of Wight trial saw the initial app model aborted after it failed to detect iPhones.
Mr Hancock was forced to go cap-inhand to Google and Apple to request use of their model which he had rejected. Prof Andrew Goddard, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said: “The NHS Covid-19 app is a step in the right direction but ongoing evaluation and improvement is important to ensure it is fit for purpose.”