APP-SOLUTE JOKE

It was supposed to be in place weeks ago, but NHS tracing app may not be ready until WINTER

HEALTH Secretary Matt Hancock’s much-vaunted contact-tracing app may not be ready until the end of the year, a minister admitted yesterday.

Lord Bethell said the app – which was originally supposed to have been in place by the middle of May – was no longer a priority for the Government.

The junior health minister told MPs on the science and technology committee that the pilot scheme on the Isle of Wight had been successful, but it showed that people prefer human contact to a technological one.

Speaking of the app, he said: ‘ We’re seeking to get something going before the winter, but it isn’t the priority for us at the moment.

Lord Bethell said the Government did not want to ‘poison the pool’ by rushing something out that isn’t ‘quite right’.

The admission is the latest blow to Boris Johnson’s promise that his government’s track and trace system will be ‘world-beating’.

The NHSX app, which is meant to allow the NHS to trace contacts of coronavirus sufferers and ask them to self-isolate, was hailed as a key plank of the Government’s attempt to beat the disease. But there have been reports of technical problems during the pilot scheme and widespread concerns about data privacy.

Yesterday Lord Bethell, the minister responsible for the app, said the delay was caused in part by a fear of ‘freaking out’ the public by using technological means to tell them they might be ill.

He said he was not ‘feeling under great time pressure’ to get the tool up and running, though he insisted it was still the Government’s intention to introduce it.

‘The app pilot in the Isle of Wight has gone very well indeed and it has led to some infections being avoided,’ he said.

‘But one of the things it has taught us is that it is the human contact that is most valued by people. There is a danger in being too technological and relying too much on texts and emails and alienating or freaking out people because you are telling them quite alarming news through quite casual communication.

‘The call centres we have put together actually have worked extremely well. We have had to deal with people working from home on new computer systems, but the effectiveness has been proven and we are confident about that. That’s where our focus is at the moment.

‘Apps around the world have been challenging. I note that the Norwegians, Singaporeans, French and others have all be working on their app releases.

‘There are technical challenges of getting the app right and we are really keen to make sure we get all aspects of it correct. We are not feeling under great time pressure and therefore we are focusing on getting the right app.’

Labour MP Graham Stringer, the committee’s chairman, told the peer that he appeared to be making an argument for never deploying the app and asked whether it was still the Government’s intention to roll it out nationwide.

Lord Bethell insisted it was the intention to release the app at some point.

‘It isn’t the priority at the moment’