New NHS coronavirus app ‘must be open to scrutiny’
A NEW NHS app for contact tracing in a bid to slow the coronavirus spread must be open to proper scrutiny over its use of data, MPs have said.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the app will alert other users if they have been in significant contact with someone recently who now has Covid-19 symptoms.
He said developers of the app, which is currently being tested, were working with the world’s leading tech companies and experts in clinical safety and digital ethics “so that we can get this right”.
Making the announcement at the daily Downing Street press conference, he said: “If you become unwell with the symptoms of coronavirus you can securely tell this new NHS app and the app will then send an alert anonymously to other app users that you’ve been in significant contact with over the past few days.”
This should mean people can act even before they have symptoms.
Mr Hancock said in a commitment to transparency, the source code will be published, and he sought to reassure people that data will not be held any longer than is necessary.
He said: “All data will be handled according to the highest ethical and security standards and would only be used for NHS care and research and we won’t hold it any longer than it’s needed.”
While the use of technology in the coronavirus fight was welcomed by shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth and acting Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, both said the use of such an app must be open to proper scrutiny.
Mr Ashworth said it is “vital to have the proper safeguards and transparency when it comes to capturing or mapping people’s data.”
Sir Ed called for “transparency”, and said it bolsters the case for an emergency recall of Parliament.
He said: “Any proposal on the use of mobile phone data or other technology to track people must also be scrutinised properly by MPs before a final decision is made, further strengthening our argument that Parliament should be recalled urgently.”
Professor Keith Neal, emeritus professor in the epidemiology of infectious diseases at the University of Nottingham, said the app could potentially be used as a route out of lockdown.
He cautioned that it will work better with widespread testing and large numbers of people using it.
THE number of those who have died in UK hospitals after contracting Covid-19 has breached the 10,000 mark, it emerged yesterday.
The Department of Health said yesterday that, as of 5pm on Saturday, a total of 10,612 patients had died in hospital after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK, up by 737 from 9,875 the day before.
England’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock called it a “sombre” moment.
He said: “Today marks a sombre day in the impact of this disease as we join the list of countries who have seen more than 10,000 deaths related to coronavirus.
“The fact that over 10,000 people have now lost their lives to this invisible killer demonstrates just how serious this coronavirus is and why the national effort that everyone is engaged in is so important.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called the latest figures “heartbreaking”, adding: “Every one is a tragedy, every one is a family shattered.”
Sir Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show yesterday that the UK looked set to have “one of the worst, if not the worst” death rate in Europe.
Asked about the prediction, Mr Hancock told the Downing Street press briefing yesterday that the “future of this virus is unknowable” and that there had been “a flattening of the curve” because most people were following the social distancing measures.
The Health Secretary said there are now 2,295 spare critical care beds.
“The latest figures show that in Great Britain we have 2,295 spare critical care beds up 150 from yesterday,” he said.
He said that at the start of the crisis people said the NHS would be overwhelmed.
“We have seen the risk of that elsewhere but not here,” he said.
“That is because of the action that a huge number of people have taken. The incredible work of so many.”
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) piled more pressure on ministers this weekend after it urged members to refuse to treat patients as a “last resort” if adequate PPE was not provided.
Mr Hancock, who contracted coronavirus previously, defended the Government’s record on PPE, declaring there there to be “record amounts of PPE in the system”.
Quizzed on the RCN’s fresh advice, Mr Hancock replied that he had been in contact with the organisation as part of the UK Government’s bid to “get this right”.
Mr Hancock said Covid-19 testing had been “available throughout” for care home residents but confirmed testing for staff in the homes was “coming”, although admitted the process was “complicated”.
He added: “I think one of the things we have succeeded in doing as country during this crisis is recognising that our care staff are on the front line just as much as our NHS staff are.”
He closed his statement by reiterating his message that people should stay at home this Easter.
“At a time when we normally come physically together, we must stay apart,” the England Health Secretary said.
“It runs counter to every human instinct and every intuition that we possess, but we must persevere because if we follow the rules and slow the spread of the virus, then each new day will bring us closer to normal life.”
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has called the NHS “unconquerable” after seeing first-hand how it was dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
Boris Johnson was discharged from hospital yesterday, a week after being admitted with persistent coronavirus symptoms.
In a video posted on Twitter, the PM said the “NHS has saved my life, no question”.
Mr Johnson admitted he had personally seen, during his seven days at St Thomas’ Hospital in central London,
the “pressure the NHS is under”. But he said the NHS had the resolve to get the country through the health emergency.
Mr Johnson said: “We will win because our NHS is the beating heart of this country.
“It is the best of this country. It is unconquerable. It is powered by love.”
Heralding the “personal courage” of everyone from doctors to cooks, he mentioned by name the nurses who watched over him all night while he fought severe coronavirus symptoms in intensive care – Jenny from New Zealand, and Luis from Portugal.
“The reason in the end my body did start to get enough oxygen was because for every second of the night they were watching and they were thinking and they were caring and making the interventions I needed,” he said.
Mr Johnson praised the country’s efforts in following the “tough” social distancing measures over the Easter weekend and said the measures were “proving their worth” in protecting the NHS.
The public comments from the PM could be the last from Mr Johnson for several days as he prepared to head to his country residence, Chequers in Buckinghamshire, to convalesce.
A Number 10 spokesman confirmed the PM “would not be returning to work immediately” after being told to rest by his doctors.