The British public should download a new contact-tracing app to save lives and protect the health of their loved ones, health secretary Matt Hancock has urged.
Launching a trial of the app, which will take place on the Isle of Wight, Mr Hancock said the technology was key to keeping the future spread of Covid-19 under control.
Mr Hancock told Isle of Wight residents: “By downloading the app, you are protecting your own health, you are protecting the health of your loved ones and the health of your community.
“I know that the people of the Isle of Wight will embrace this with enthusiasm because by embarking on this project and by embracing test, track and trace, you will be saving lives.”
The app could be rolled out across the United Kingdom within weeks if the trial on the Isle of Wight proves successful.
However, its launch has sparked privacy concerns, with some arguing against a “centralised” approach to managing information and suggesting there is an increased risk from potential hackers.
The app – which asks for the first part of a user’s postcode – allows people to tell the British National Health Service if they have symptoms and book a Covid-19 test. The app tells them to self-isolate while they have their test and await the results.
Using Bluetooth, it also alerts other app users who have been in close proximity with the first user, telling them they should isolate for 14 days. If the first person’s test comes back negative, the app tells both of them and their contacts to come out of isolation and carry on as normal.
But if their test is positive, everyone carries on isolating – with the contacts told to book their own Covid-19 test if they themselves develop symptoms.
Speaking at the British government’s daily coronavirus press briefing, Mr Hancock insisted the app “has been designed with privacy and security front of mind” and with input from the National Cyber Security Centre.
What about personal information?
He said the data was stored on an individual phone and “not by the NHS” until the point at which a person needs to contact the National Health Service to book a test.
The government's testing co-ordinator, Prof John Newton said: "The app itself does not hold any personal information. It just has information about the phone, where it was, which other phones it has been in contact with, but only using anonymised, randomly generated numbers."
He added: “It’s a very safe use of data and people should feel very reassured by all the precautions that have been taken.”
Prof Newton said the app was “very exciting” but added that “shoe-leather epidemiology” in terms of thousands of trained contact tracers would also be in place.
Some 28,734 people have died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Sunday, up 288 on the day before. – PA