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The UK could “adapt” its coronavirus contact tracking application or get rid of it and “move to a different model” after testing it on the Isle of Wight and learning lessons from other countries.
Around 40,000 people on the Isle of Wight have been testing the application, designed by an arm of the NHS, which alerts users if they have been close to a suspected coronavirus case.
However, there has been intense speculation that the UK may have to switch its app to a “decentralized” model favored by Apple and Google, which stores data on movements on a user’s phone rather than centrally anonymously with the government.
Amid reports of initial problems with the app, Robert Jenrick, the secretary of communities, suggested that changes may be underway.
“We are learning lessons from other applications and if we need to change our application we will do it. That’s the point of testing it before launching it nationally, “he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.
He denied the idea that a second application was already being designed, but indicated that the government could change course in the future.
“As far as I know, we are not developing a second application, but we are paying attention to the other applications that exist in other parts of the world,” he told Marr.
“And if we need to adapt our application or move to a different model, obviously we will.”
Parliamentarians and privacy activists have repeatedly warned that the UK will be an outlier if it insists on using its own centralized application rather than relying on Google and Apple technology, claiming that lack of privacy and data protection could mean that the application would be illegal.
With growing questions about that approach, last week it emerged that Swiss consultancy firm Zühlke Engineering was hired to carry out a two-week “technical spike” to investigate implementation. The Apple and Google system “within the existing proximity application and mobile platform”.
Zühlke has already been working on the contact tracking app since March, documents released this week show, but a new outsourcing contract, first reported by the Financial Times and discovered by public sector analysts Tussell, shows that the government is seriously considering changing how the app works to overcome problems with its initial approach.
Last week, the Prime Minister’s official spokesperson left open the possibility that a change could be made, and told reporters: “We have established our plans for a centralized model and that is what we are moving forward, but we will keep all options. under review to make sure the app is as effective as possible. “
The centralized model offers advantages in terms of useful information on the spread of the disease, but also imposes technical limitations that the government has not been able to fully overcome. The Guardian reported Wednesday that the app is based on a form of “Android herd immunity,” which faces connectivity issues in situations where there aren’t enough users of Google’s smartphone operating system.
A change to the decentralized approach created by Apple and Google would resolve these connectivity issues, but would limit the NHS’s visibility on the wider spread of the virus.
