A smartphone app for tracking people who have been in contact with Covid-19 patients will not be ready for 1 June, when the next stage of the government’s relaxation of lockdown is due to begin, Downing Street has confirmed.
The admission came shortly after Boris Johnson vowed that a test and trace scheme using human contact tracers will be operational by the start of next month, when minister how to begin the process of a phased reopening on schools.
But under pressure from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, the prime minister did not make the same commitment for the “track” element of the proposed scheme, which is intended to involve the app developed by NHSX identifying potentially thousands of contacts of those who test positive for coronavirus.
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And junior health minister Lord Bethell indicated that the government was no longer trying to get the app – currently being trialled on the Isle of Wight – into action at the same time as the tracing teams.
Speaking late on Tuesday in the House of Lords, the peer said: “We have therefore changed the emphasis of our communications and plans to put human-contact tracing at the beginning of our plans and to regard the app as something that will come later in support.”
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Staff react outside Salford Royal Hospital in Manchester during a minute’s silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak
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Staff inside Camberwell bus depot in London, during a minute’s silence
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NHS staff at the Mater hospital in Belfast, during a minute’s silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak.
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Shoppers observe a minute’s silence in Tescos in Shoreham
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Firefighters outside Godstone fire station
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6/30 Salford Royal Hospital
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7/30 Salford Royal Hospital
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Hospital workers take part in a protest calling on the British government to provide PPE across Britain for all workers in care, the NHS and other vital public services after a nationwide minute’s silence at University College Hospital in London
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A school children’s poster hanging outside Glenfield Hospital during a minute’s silence
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A man holds a placard that reads “People’s health before profit” outside St Thomas hospital
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Staff members applaud outside the Royal Derby Hospital, following a minute’s silence
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Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill, Prime minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, stand inside 10 Downing Street, London, to observe a minutes silence in tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak
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13/30 University College Hospital, London
Hospital workers hold placards with the names of their colleagues who have died from coronavirus as they take part in a protest calling on the British government to provide PPE
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Staff at Waterloo Station in London, stand to observe a minute’s silence, to pay tribute to NHS and key workers who have died with coronavirus
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Medical staff at the Louisa Jordan hospital stand during a UK wide minutes silence to commemorate the key workers who have died with coronavirus in Glasgow
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An NHS worker observes a minute’s silence at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital
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NHS staff observe a minutes silence at Mater Infirmorum Hospital
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NHS workers hold a minute’s silence outside the main entrance of Derriford Hospital
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NHS Frimley Park Hospital staff at the A&E department observe a minute’s silence
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21/30 Mater Infirmorum Hospital
People applaud after a minutes silence in honour of key workers
Reuters
22/30 Waterloo Station, London
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Wreaths laid outside Sheffield town hall
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A group of trade unionists and supporters standing outside Sheffield town hall
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First Minister Nicola Sturgeon stands outside St Andrew’s House in Edinburgh to observe a minute’s silence in tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak
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Staff stand outside the Royal Derby Hospital, during a minutes silence
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Police officers observe a minutes silence at Guy’s Hospital
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A woman standing outside Sheffield town hall
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29/30 Royal Derby Hospital
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NHS workers during a minute’s silence outside Glenfield Hospital
Getty
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Staff react outside Salford Royal Hospital in Manchester during a minute’s silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak
PA
2/30
Staff inside Camberwell bus depot in London, during a minute’s silence
PA
3/30
NHS staff at the Mater hospital in Belfast, during a minute’s silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak.
PA
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Shoppers observe a minute’s silence in Tescos in Shoreham
Getty
5/30
Firefighters outside Godstone fire station
PA
6/30 Salford Royal Hospital
Getty
7/30 Salford Royal Hospital
PA
8/30
Hospital workers take part in a protest calling on the British government to provide PPE across Britain for all workers in care, the NHS and other vital public services after a nationwide minute’s silence at University College Hospital in London
AP
9/30
A school children’s poster hanging outside Glenfield Hospital during a minute’s silence
Getty
10/30
A man holds a placard that reads “People’s health before profit” outside St Thomas hospital
Getty
11/30
Staff members applaud outside the Royal Derby Hospital, following a minute’s silence
PA
12/30
Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill, Prime minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, stand inside 10 Downing Street, London, to observe a minutes silence in tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak
PA
13/30 University College Hospital, London
Hospital workers hold placards with the names of their colleagues who have died from coronavirus as they take part in a protest calling on the British government to provide PPE
AP
14/30
Staff at Waterloo Station in London, stand to observe a minute’s silence, to pay tribute to NHS and key workers who have died with coronavirus
AP
15/30
Medical staff at the Louisa Jordan hospital stand during a UK wide minutes silence to commemorate the key workers who have died with coronavirus in Glasgow
Getty
16/30 London
An NHS worker observes a minute’s silence at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital
Reuters
17/30 Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London
AFP via Getty
18/30 Belfast, Northern Ireland
NHS staff observe a minutes silence at Mater Infirmorum Hospital
Reuters
19/30 Plymouth
NHS workers hold a minute’s silence outside the main entrance of Derriford Hospital
Getty
20/30
NHS Frimley Park Hospital staff at the A&E department observe a minute’s silence
Getty
21/30 Mater Infirmorum Hospital
People applaud after a minutes silence in honour of key workers
Reuters
22/30 Waterloo Station, London
AP
23/30
Wreaths laid outside Sheffield town hall
PA
24/30
A group of trade unionists and supporters standing outside Sheffield town hall
PA
25/30
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon stands outside St Andrew’s House in Edinburgh to observe a minute’s silence in tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak
PA
26/30
Staff stand outside the Royal Derby Hospital, during a minutes silence
PA
27/30 London
Police officers observe a minutes silence at Guy’s Hospital
Reuters
28/30
A woman standing outside Sheffield town hall
PA
29/30 Royal Derby Hospital
PA
30/30 Leicester,
NHS workers during a minute’s silence outside Glenfield Hospital
Getty
Asked whether Lord Bethell’s comments were correct, Mr Johnson’s spokesman told a Westminster virtual media briefing: “I wouldn’t disagree with that. I think that’s straightforward.”
The spokesman said that the app was “only part of the system” and declined to give a date for its national rollout, saying only that it would happen “in the coming weeks”.
Trials on the Isle of Wight have been hit by a number of teething troubles, including the app failing to work on some models of phone and swiftly draining users’ batteries. Privacy campaigners have also raised concerns about a system which records and temporarily retains the numbers of anyone within a short distance of the user’s phone, so they can be identified and tested if the user falls ill with Covid-19
Sir Keir said the lack of effective tracing of infected people amounted to a “huge hole in our defences” and compared the grim UK death toll to places with intensive test and tracing such as Germany and South Korea.
The prime minister accused Sir Keir of “feigning ignorance” on the figures, telling MPs the government was making “fast progress” in testing and tracing, and there will be 25,000 trackers who are able to cope with 10,000 new cases a day.
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Mr Johnson went on: “So we’re making fast progress in testing and tracing and I have great confidence that by 1 June we will have a system that will enable us, that will help us very greatly to defeat this disease and move the country forward… it will be in place by 1 June.”
His comments came after the deputy chief scientific adviser Professor Dame Angela McLean said an effective test and trace system was needed to reopen schools as the government was embroiled in a furious row with unions and teachers over whether it was safe to restart classes.
Prof McLean told the Downing Street press conference on Tuesday that easing of lockdown measures needed to be based on “observed levels of incidence in places that there’s going to be change, not on a fixed date”.
Outsourcing giant Serco, which is training staff, also apologised for accidentally sharing the email addresses of some 300 contact tracers.
