App glitch sees 900 wrongly told to go into self-isolation
HUNDREDS of Scots were told to self-isolate in error after a ‘blip’ with the country’s contact tracing app.
Nicola Sturgeon was forced to apologise yesterday after the latest update of the Protect Scotland app caused a glitch.
Around 900 Scots were sent a notification at midnight on Monday and 8.30am on Tuesday advising they must self-isolate for ten days.
This was supposed to be because they had come into contact with someone who had tested positive for Covid-19. But all those who received this message have been told to get in touch with the national contact tracing service following a ‘ one off blip’ which sent hundreds of notifications in error.
Miss Sturgeon said the issue with the app, which has been downloaded by more than 1.7million people, has now been fixed.
According to the First Minister, the error was caused by the new upgrade to the Protect Scotland app, which made the system more sensitive.
Yesterday, Miss Sturgeon said the app had been ‘configured in an overly sensitive way during that period’.
She added: ‘It does mean some people will have received notifications in that period who do not actually need to self-isolate.’
When working, the system detects when people are within two metres of each other for 15 minutes or longer, using bluetooth technology to monitor prolonged close contact.
On average, around 250 notifications are sent out every 32 hours. So far, more than 20,000 have been told to self-isolate.
But after the upgrade on Monday 900 people received the alert within this time period.
Anyone notified to self-isolate over the period concerned should call the National Contact Tracing Centre on 0800 030 8012. Miss Sturgeon added: ‘If you are one of the people who have been notified incorrectly, they will advise you of that.’
She insisted the phone app had been ‘working really well at all other times’, and added: ‘This was a one- off blip as a result of an upgrade to the app and it has now been fixed.’
Miss Sturgeon apologised for the error, saying: ‘It was a mistake, a technical mistake that’s been identified and fixed and I’m standing here being upfront about it. So yes, I’m sorry that happened.’
When asked what the precise problem with the update to the app was, the First Minister said she did not have technical knowledge of the issue.
‘Everybody who has a smartphone knows that apps upgrade regularly, and this was an update of the app that threw something off kilter that meant that people who should not have been notified were notified and that had something to do with an overly sensitive calculation of time and distance,’ the First Minister said.
‘ Occasionally, particularly when we’re dealing with technology, these things happen.’
Last night the BBC reported that a number of people who believe they are affected by the app issue claimed they had phoned the national contact tracing service only to be told to use their own judgment on whether or not to self-isolate.
If those affected took this advice, it was reported, it would mean their period of isolation would include Christmas Day.
And The Courier spoke to a man in Dundee who said he had been given the same advice.
He said call handlers advised him ‘they were aware of the issue but didn’t have direct access to the data – and as a result advised me to make my own call based on whether me, or anyone in my household or bubble, were showing symptoms’.
‘This was a one-off’