TRACING APP IS A TURN-OFF

TENS of thousands of Scots have turned off notifications on their contact tracing app this month.

Protect Scotland – which was hailed as a key tool in Scotland’s fight against coronavirus when it was launched last year – has been downloaded more than 2 million times since it was made available in September 2020.

The app alerts users who have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid, and may advise them to self-isolate.

But concerns have been raised after the Scottish Government admitted that fewer than half of those with the app actually use it.

Currently there are only 902,000 active users, with 50,000 Scots muting the app to avoid alerts this month alone.

But NearForm, the Irish company that designed the Protect Scotland app, told the BBC that it was working effectively.

NearForm chief commercial officer Larry Breen said: ‘We’re permanently monitoring not just this but all of the [tracking] apps we have out there to make sure the functionality is there.’