When the United Kingdom released its coronavirus app in early May on the Isle of Wight, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said people testing the digital tracing tool were “at the forefront of helping Britain get back on her feet.”
What a difference almost two months makes.
On Thursday, London announced it had postponed the countrywide launch of its coronavirus app so that it could be overhauled to use technology provided by Google and Apple. The U-turn follows more than two months of technical glitches, questions about the apps effectiveness, and doubts over whether people would even download it in the first place.
“We have agreed to share our own innovative work on estimating distance between app users with Google and Apple,” Dido Harding, who chairs the U.K. governments test and trace program, and Matthew Gould, chief executive of NHSX, the innovation unit of the countrys health service, said in a statement. “Our ambition is to develop an app which will enable anyone with a smartphone to engage with every aspect of the NHS Test and Trace service.”
Harding and Gould did not give a date for when the countrys revamped app would be released, though officials said the fall would be the most likely time frame.
U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said people testing the app were at the forefront of helping Britain get back on its feet | Niklas Hallen/AFP via Getty Images
The decision represents a blow for Britains efforts to show that it is at the forefront of tackling the global pandemic.
Unlike other countries like Germany, and many U.S. states, London had decided initially not to work with Google and Apple, which would only allow access to their mobile phone technology to government apps that stored sensitive data on peoples mobile devices.
British officials, along with their counterparts in France, had balked at the American tech giants demands that data should remain decentralized. They said it was preferable to collect peoples information into one central server so that researchers could better analyze the spread of the disease. (Paris released its app in early June, though it has so far only been downloaded by a fraction of the countrys population.)
But now, amid ongoing technical problems, which have resulted in months of delays before the British app can be released nationwide, the U.K. has decided to fall in line with other countries and work with Google and Apple directly on its coronavirus digital tracing tool.
Coronavirus apps use a devices bluetooth mobile technology to determine if someone has been in close contact with another person infected with the virus, so that people can be informed if they need to isolate themselves.
British officials acknowledged that the countrys standalone app had not been accurate in identifying if people had been in contact with someone who had the coronavirus.
On devices using Googles Android operating system, for instance, the U.K. digital tool was 75 percent effective. But on Apple devices, that figure fell to a mere 4 percent. Coronavirus apps that relied on technology provided by the tech giants were accurate in 99 percent of instances, U.K. officials noted.
Despite the setback, London may not be as far behind others in using smartphone apps to identify who has been infected with COVID-19.
Other countries that have released their own apps have faced problems with not enough people downloading the digital tracing tools. Norway, for instance, paused its own app this week after only 14 percent of the population had signed up.
Read More – Source
When the United Kingdom released its coronavirus app in early May on the Isle of Wight, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said people testing the digital tracing tool were “at the forefront of helping Britain get back on her feet.”
What a difference almost two months makes.
On Thursday, London announced it had postponed the countrywide launch of its coronavirus app so that it could be overhauled to use technology provided by Google and Apple. The U-turn follows more than two months of technical glitches, questions about the apps effectiveness, and doubts over whether people would even download it in the first place.
“We have agreed to share our own innovative work on estimating distance between app users with Google and Apple,” Dido Harding, who chairs the U.K. governments test and trace program, and Matthew Gould, chief executive of NHSX, the innovation unit of the countrys health service, said in a statement. “Our ambition is to develop an app which will enable anyone with a smartphone to engage with every aspect of the NHS Test and Trace service.”
Harding and Gould did not give a date for when the countrys revamped app would be released, though officials said the fall would be the most likely time frame.
U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said people testing the app were at the forefront of helping Britain get back on its feet | Niklas Hallen/AFP via Getty Images
The decision represents a blow for Britains efforts to show that it is at the forefront of tackling the global pandemic.
Unlike other countries like Germany, and many U.S. states, London had decided initially not to work with Google and Apple, which would only allow access to their mobile phone technology to government apps that stored sensitive data on peoples mobile devices.
British officials, along with their counterparts in France, had balked at the American tech giants demands that data should remain decentralized. They said it was preferable to collect peoples information into one central server so that researchers could better analyze the spread of the disease. (Paris released its app in early June, though it has so far only been downloaded by a fraction of the countrys population.)
But now, amid ongoing technical problems, which have resulted in months of delays before the British app can be released nationwide, the U.K. has decided to fall in line with other countries and work with Google and Apple directly on its coronavirus digital tracing tool.
Coronavirus apps use a devices bluetooth mobile technology to determine if someone has been in close contact with another person infected with the virus, so that people can be informed if they need to isolate themselves.
British officials acknowledged that the countrys standalone app had not been accurate in identifying if people had been in contact with someone who had the coronavirus.
On devices using Googles Android operating system, for instance, the U.K. digital tool was 75 percent effective. But on Apple devices, that figure fell to a mere 4 percent. Coronavirus apps that relied on technology provided by the tech giants were accurate in 99 percent of instances, U.K. officials noted.
Despite the setback, London may not be as far behind others in using smartphone apps to identify who has been infected with COVID-19.
Other countries that have released their own apps have faced problems with not enough people downloading the digital tracing tools. Norway, for instance, paused its own app this week after only 14 percent of the population had signed up.
Read More – Source
