Health Secretary can't give a date for beleaguered NHS coronavirus tracing app following U-turn

Mr Hancock defended the Government against allegations it had spent too long trying to build its own app instead of using the Google-Apple technology.
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The Health Secretary was unable to give a time frame for the roll out of the new coronavirus contact-tracing app following a U-turn today.

At Thursday’s Downing Street briefing, Matt Hancock and the chief of NHS Test and Trace Baroness Dido Harding were quizzed over when the tracing app will be unveiled.

Mr Hancock said: "We're working on it. We're not going to put a date on it I'm afraid because I'm absolutely determined that, whilst this technology can help, it's got to be working effectively.

"But I am confident we will get there - we will put that cherry on Dido's cake."

It comes less than two hours after the Government performed a major U-turn by abandoning its beleaguered NHS coronavirus contact-tracing app in favour of technology provided by Apple and Google.

The Department for Health and Social Care [DHSC] said it was scrapping its custom-made software and moving to a system already developed by tech giants.

The app was meant to be rolled out in May but a pilot scheme on the Isle of Wight has proved problematic.

Mr Hancock said the trial had uncovered a "technical barrier" with the UK app working well on Android devices but not Apple software.

He added: "We have agreed to join forces with Google and Apple to bring the best bits of both systems together."

The NHS contact tracing app on a mobile phone
PA

The Secretary of State also defended the Government against allegations it had spent too long trying to build its own app instead of using the Google-Apple technology.

He added "No, actually quite the contrary, I'm from Newmarket, we back both horses.

"We took the decision in May to start building the Google-Apple version as well and then because we built both we could test both.

"And actually the best way to get new technology going is to test different approaches.

"Far better to go with both versions and now we've got problems with both versions but there's parts of each that can come together to build something that's stronger than either version."

Baroness Harding added: "The reality is if we had not backed both horses we wouldn't have a way forward."

Officials said the app was highly inaccurate when used on iPhones, only identifying around four per cent of contacts. In comparison, the Apple-Google framework recorded 99 per cent of all contacts.

No date has been set for the roll-out, despite Health Secretary Matt Hancock previously saying the tech would be available in mid-May.

Labour said the U-turn was "yet another example" of the Government's response to the crisis being "slow and badly managed".

Dido Harding
PA

Baroness Harding and Matthew Gould, the chief executive of the NHSX technology, said there had been "specific technical challenges" in their joint statement this afternoon.

It said: "Our response to this virus has and will continue to be as part of an international effort.

"That is why as part of a collaborative approach we have agreed to share our own innovative work on estimating distance between app users with Google and Apple, work that we hope will benefit others, while using their solution to address some of the specific technical challenges identified through our rigorous testing."

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