Coronavirus ‘test, track and trace’ app trial launches tomorrow
The Isle of Wight will trial the UK’s coronavirus “test, track and trace” app from tomorrow, health secretary Matt Hancock has confirmed.
Hancock said that health workers will begin to pilot the app on the island tomorrow, before extending it to all 140,000 islanders later this week.
The health secretary said the app would supplement the country’s social distancing restrictions in the fight against Covid-19.
“It’s primarily the social distancing measures we’ve taken so far that will flatten the curve [of infections] and now we can see the curve is going down,” he said.
“The goal is to keep the number of new infections coming down and bring in the test, track and trace app at a point, which we will do from tomorrow on the Isle of Wight and then by rolling out to the rest of the country we will get those numbers down.”
Hancock said that the app would utilise bluetooth technology to log users’ contact with other people.
“Islanders will be asked to install the app and once they’ve done that it will log the distance between your phone and other phones with the app nearby,” Hancock said.
“Other app users you’ve had significant contact with in the last few days will be sent an alert [if you have Covid-19 symptoms] by the NHS along with advice on what to do.
“A test ordering function will then be built in.”