Test and tracing trial is scrapped over app glitches
MINISTERS have abandoned plans for a British-made mobile phone app to track coronavirus infections after trials revealed glitches in the technology.
In a major U-turn, the Government opted for an alternative version developed by tech giants Apple and Google.
The switch means the bluetooth device – which is supposed to help health authorities trace people who have been in close contact with anyone going down with Covid-19 symptoms – could be delayed by months.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock insisted the NHS contact tracing effort could rapidly expand without the app.
Symptoms
He said: “Countries across the globe have faced challenges in developing an app which gets all of these elements right, but through international collaboration we hope to find a solution which will strengthen our global response to this virus.”
A prototype NHSX app has been undergoing a trial on the Isle ofWight for over a month.
It uses bluetooth technology to record who a phone user has been near and then inform them if they have been in close contact with anyone who has gone on to report suffering from coronavirus symptoms.
The setback emerged as the latest figures yesterday put the daily death toll from coronavirus at 135.
In a fresh sign of progress against the disease, separate fig
ures from Public Health England showed that last week the number of deaths from all causes was no higher than at the same time last year for the first time since mid-March.
Mr Hancock said: “That demonstrates the number of deaths from coronavirus is coming right down but the battle is not over.”
The Health Secretary admitted the app trial had uncovered a “technical barrier”.
He said: “We found our app works well on android devices
but Apple software prevents iPhones being used effectively for contact tracing unless you are using Apple’s technology.”
Mr Hancock said that the NHSX app was better at measuring distance than the Google/Apple model.
He added: “As it stands, our app won’t work because Apple won’t change their system, but it can measure distance.
“And their app can’t measure distance well enough to a standard we are satisfied with. We have agreed to join forces with
Google and Apple to bring the best bits of both systems together.
“We will share our algorithm and the work that we have done on distance calculation and combine that with their work to deliver a new solution.”
He was unable to say when the app will be ready for roll-out across the country.
Mr Hancock said the existing test-and-trace system had meant local outbreaks were being spotted, with surges in infections already identified in
Leicester and Kirklees, West
Yorkshire.
He said: “There are these local outbreaks, we’ve seen them all the way through.
“And we now have the system in place to be able to spot them the best we can and then take that local action.
“It is natural that as the lockdown lifts slightly, we’ve always said the next move is for more localised action to tackle outbreaks where we find them.” Mr Hancock rejected claims the Government had spent too long trying to build its own app instead of using the Google-Apple technology.
“No, actually quite the contrary, I’m from Newmarket, we back both horses,” the West Suffolk MP said. “We took the decision in May to start building the Google-Apple version as well and then because we built both we could test both.
“And actually the best way to get new technology going is to test different approaches.
“Far better to go with both versions and now we’ve got problems with both but there’s parts of each that can come together to build something that’s stronger than either version.”
Baroness Harding, the executive chair of NHS Test and Trace, said: “The reality is if we had not backed both horses we wouldn’t have a way forward.
“Because we’ve developed some really sophisticated distance calculations we think we can enhance the Google-Apple platform such that it will work.”
Bob Seely, Tory MP for the Isle of Wight, said: “It was a trial. The point of a trial is that we get to see if the app worked or not.”
Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “This is unsurprising and yet another example of where the Government’s response has been slow and badly managed.
“It’s meant precious time and money wasted.”