By UK Government to release Covid-19 ‘contact tracking’ app
The UK Government have announced plans to release a Covid-19 contact tracking app in order to make people aware of nearby carriers.
It is said that it will operate on an ‘opt-in’ basis, and will be launched around the end of the lockdown.
NHSX , the NHS’s technology innovation department, are leading the project.
The app will alerts people if they come too close to someone who has tested positive for Covid-19. It will dectect other phones in close range by using Bluetooth signals.
NHS officials have said that they would need to attract at least 50% of the UK population in order for the app to function effectively.
If someone tests positive for COVID-19, they will be able to upload those contacts, who can then be alerted, after a suitable delay, to avoid identifying individuals, via the app.
Some have already raised the topic of potential safeguarding and confidentiality issues. Sir Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care warned that “location and contact tracking technology could be used as a means of social control”.
Professor Chris Whitty, England’s Chief Medical Officer, said such a system could be used to attack people:
“As a doctor, I am very against giving any patient-identifiable information, and for that reason we should also be careful, so I am not in favour of going down to street level or, ‘You are within 100 metres of coronavirus'”
The ROI government is reportedly building a similar app, and South Korea have been broadcasting details of infected people’s age, gender and most recent location to anyone within 100 metres via text message.
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