Health Secretary Matt Hancock has confirmed that the Government is working on a contact tracing app to combat the spread of Covid-19.
He said that NHSX – the digital health policy unit in the Department of Health and Social Care – is working with leading technology companies with the aim of running a pilot at a secure location in the north of England over the next few days.
Speaking at the Government’s daily briefing on the crisis, Hancock said: “If you become unwell with the symptoms of coronavirus you can securely tell this new NHS app.
It will then send an alert anonymously to other app users you have been in significant contact with over the past few days, even before you had symptoms, so that they know and can act accordingly.
“All data will be handled according to the highest ethical and security standards and will only be used for NHS care and research, and we won’t hold it any longer than it’s needed.”
Downloading the app would be voluntary but the idea is that the more people using it the more effective it would become.
Users would need to have it activated on their phones with the Bluetooth settings on. The BBC has reported that people who have self-diagnosed as having coronavirus will be able to declare their status in the app.
Verification step
To report testing positive, the user would have to enter a verification code, which they would have received alongside their Covid-19 status.
The app will then send a yellow alert to any other users who they have recently been close to for an extended period – although this has not yet been publicly defined. If a medical test confirms that the original user is infected, the app will send a stronger warning, signalling that the other users should go into quarantine.
The Government’s Behavioural Insights Team has been working on how to encourage as many people as possible to use the app.
Apple and Google have revealed they are working on APIs in their mobile operating systems to support the development of such apps.
While the plan has raised questions about how much it will intrude into people’s privacy, it has been reported that the app will not collect personal details, all data will be stored on phones, and it will only provide for communications with the phones as devices rather than tying them to an individual.
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