[ad_1]
The UK is prepared to adapt or replace the smartphone contact tracking application it has developed for the coronavirus if a trial on the Isle of Wight shows that it is necessary, communities secretary Robert Jenrick said on Sunday.
His comments came after Isle of Wight residents encountered issues with the NHS app during the trial that began last week, including some smartphone users who received alerts that they had been in contact with people with Covid- 19, even though they were not gone. outside.
The Financial Times reported Friday that the NHS has begun developing a second contact tracking application after privacy activists and technology experts expressed concern about the first.
The second application will use technology provided by Google and Apple and is being developed in parallel with the first, in case the government decides to make a change, according to people briefed on the project.
When asked repeatedly on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show if the government was preparing to replace the first NHS application, Jenrick said he was unaware of a second.
“But… If we need to adapt our application or move to a different model, obviously we will.”
Jenrick said the government was learning lessons from other contract tracking applications in other parts of the world.
“If we need to change our app, we will,” said Jenrick. “That’s the point of piloting this before we take it nationally.”
The UK needs a robust regime to screen people suspected of having Covid-19 and track down those who have come into contact with them, as part of plans to fight the disease and get out of prison entirely.
Editor’s Note
Financial Times is making key coronavirus coverage free to read to help everyone stay informed. Find the latest here.
The NHS app being tested on the Isle of Wight is intended to allow smartphone users who have come in contact with someone who has the virus to receive an alert allowing them to isolate themselves.
About 50,000 people on the island have downloaded the app, out of a population of 141,000, Jenrick said.
But there have been initial teething problems, according to residents who spoke to the Financial Times.
Among the most serious are alerts that people reported receiving from the app on Friday, notifying them that they had been in contact with someone infected with Covid-19.
This was despite the fact that they had not ventured outdoors since they downloaded the app when it was available to residents the day before.
“A lot of people have received alerts,” said Jo Jones, who works for an education company on the Isle of Wight. “My dad’s neighbor’s phone went off twice at night to say he had been in contact with someone. She had not been out. “
Like many islanders, Ms. Jones ignored concerns about how the government could use the data it secured from the app, saying it wanted to help rid the country of Covid-19.
She and other residents were more concerned that the app would numb the population with a false sense of security.
Covid-19 cases are on the rise on the Isle of Wight, reaching 155 on Saturday. “We have many older people. Many don’t even have cell phones, “said Ms. Jones.
Even if they do, the app won’t necessarily work, according to Alice McNab, a former IT project manager who now works for a rental agency.
“All the people I’ve spoken to, most of whom, like me, want to be part of it, have had trouble downloading,” he said, adding that his friends also reported that the app was draining their batteries. phones.
More worrying was that the application did not work on phones over three years old that used Google’s Android operating system.
Around 50,000 people on the island have downloaded the app, out of a population of 141,000, according to the government © Steve Parsons / PA
Vix Lowthion, a school teacher and former parliamentary candidate for the Green Party, said she wanted to understand the government’s criteria for succeeding with the trial.
“Is it the number of downloads? . . . Is it to test failures? . . . I’m not sure what we’re participating in here, “she added.
