Government announces details of coronavirus tracking app that everybody in the country could soon be asked to download

Today the Government announced the details for the coronavirus tracking app that could be rolled out across the country if its trial on the Isle of Wight is successful.
By Lloyd Bent
Published 4th May 2020, 18:03 BST
Updated 4th May 2020, 18:05 BST
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Speaking at today’s briefing at Downing Street, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that the average number of people each person with coronavirus infects is now less than one, meaning the UK is ‘past the peak’ of the disease.

He also said that as of yesterday (Sunday May 3) the testing capacity is 108,000, meaning the government’s 100,000-a-day target has been met and that the next phase of the ‘test, track and trace’ strategy can begin.

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Mr Hancock explained that this would be done using a coronavirus tracking app as well as an ‘army’ of ‘thousands’ of ‘human contact tracers’.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam (left) and Professor of Public Health & Epidemiology, Coordinator of the National Testing Effort, Professor John Newton (right) during a media briefing in Downing Street, London, on coronavirus (COVID-19). Photo: Andrew Parsons/10 Downing Street/Crown Copyright/PA WireHealth Secretary Matt Hancock, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam (left) and Professor of Public Health & Epidemiology, Coordinator of the National Testing Effort, Professor John Newton (right) during a media briefing in Downing Street, London, on coronavirus (COVID-19). Photo: Andrew Parsons/10 Downing Street/Crown Copyright/PA Wire
Health Secretary Matt Hancock, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam (left) and Professor of Public Health & Epidemiology, Coordinator of the National Testing Effort, Professor John Newton (right) during a media briefing in Downing Street, London, on coronavirus (COVID-19). Photo: Andrew Parsons/10 Downing Street/Crown Copyright/PA Wire

He said that people would be asked to download the app onto their phones, and that this would help the NHS to “isolate the virus so that it is unable to reproduce”.

The way the app works is by using Bluetooth to make note of other phones that have the app downloaded that are nearby and storing a ‘log’ of this ‘proximity information’.

Then, if one person who has the app becomes ill with coronavirus symptoms, they can notify the NHS via the app. The owners of every phone with the app who came into close proximity to the ill person will also be alerted that they have come into contact with the virus.

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There will be an in-built ‘test-ordering’ function in the app that these people can all use to get testing kits sent out to them so they can check if they have COVID-19.

The Health Secretary said that the app would be available to download in the Isle of Wight tomorrow (May 5).

He said that if the tests in the Isle of Wight work, then the system could be rolled out across the UK by ‘the middle of the month’.

Responding to concerns about privacy in relation to the app storing the ‘proximity information’, Hancock said “full consideration" had been taken in this regard.

He also added that the blue tooth signal used by the app had been designed not to drain a phone’s battery.

Related topics:Matt HancockGovernmentIsle of WightDowning StreetHealth SecretaryNHSCovid-19