Contact-tracing app unfit for old phones
PEOPLE with older smartphones will be unable to download the Covid-19 contact tracing app.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock insisted the “vast majority” of phones have the right software but some need an operating system update.
The app, launched yesterday, will only have an effect on the virus’s R-number if at least 15% of people use it.
Mr Hancock said: “The more people who download this app, the more effective it will be.”
It requires Apple users to be running iOS 13.5, which was rolled out in May and works on the iPhone 6s, released in 2015, or newer handsets.
Android users need to be running at least version 6.0 of the operating system, which was also released in 2015.
Anyone unable to use the app should continue to use traditional services provided by NHS Test and Trace or NHS Wales Test, Trace, Protect.
Data from England’s NHS Test and Trace released yesterday showed it is currently reaching just 48.6% of contacts of people who have tested positive for
Covid-19, down from 51% in mid-July. It follows modelling published in the Lancet showing it needed to reach at least 68% by the time schools returned, to avoid a surge in cases.
PM Boris Johnson defended England’s part-privatised system in Parliament this week against criticism its failure meant he had “lost control” of the outbreak.
Dr Layla McCay, of the NHS Confederation, which represents NHS trusts, said: “The figures show we simply do not have the so-called ‘world-beating’ system that was promised and it’s getting worse.”
Prof Chris Bonell, author of the Lancet paper, calculated the 48.6% figure by combining three data measures.
He told the Mirror: “The PM was wrong to suggest the rise infections has nothing to do with shortcomings of the test-trace-isolate system.
“It not working properly is a factor behind the increasing number of new cases.”
Tory Peer Baroness Harding, head of NHS Test and Trace, said: “We continue to work tirelessly to build capacity to meet our target of 500,000 tests a day.”
THE good news is that more than a million have downloaded the tracing app.
The bad news is that millions more are unable to because their phones are out of date.
And the whole thing is worthless unless ministers sort out the testing regime.
Despite the billions being spent on NHS Test and Trace – with billions more promised yesterday – the service has got worse.
Latest figures show the number of people being reached has decreased week on week.
This is a test of Government competence – one they are failing.