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      in UK Politics

      Coronavirus: ‘Extraordinary’ flaw leaves NHS app unable to process tens of thousands of test results

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      The long-delayed NHS Covid-19 app has hit fresh trouble after it emerged it could not process tens of thousands of test results in England.Ministers were under pressure to explain the “extraordinary” failure, affecting tests at NHS hospitals and Public Health England laboratories, which provoked more criticism of the technology.To add to the embarrassment, the Welsh government said it had avoided the same problem – which came just two days after the app was finally launched, four months later than promised.The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) on Saturday night that developers had fixed the flaw after “working urgently” to tackle the issue, which left people in England whose tests were carried out at the privately run “lighthouse labs” able to input results but not those in NHS settings.The results are meant to be used to enable the app to carry out contact tracing, the key purpose of the technology to help curb the spread of coronavirus infectionsWatch moreProfessor Stephen Reicher, a government adviser, said the “extraordinary” weakness pointed to “centralised privatised cronyism” which was undermining the test and trace system.“It exemplifies precisely why test and trace continues to fail: the divorce between the new privatised testing system and NHS/Public Health structures,” he tweeted.“So, fix the app. But that won’t be enough. We need a rapid reset of testing more generally. No more centralised privatised cronyism. Rebuild the system based on trusted local NHS and Public Health.” Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s health spokesman, asked: “Have they really launched an app that doesn’t actually link to tests carried out by NHS hospital labs & PHE labs instead only including tests carried out via the outsourced lighthouse lab network??”On Friday, more than 61,000 processed tests in England were handled by PHE and the NHS, underlining the potential scale of the problem.It emerged when one concerned user warned, on Twitter, that he could not submit his test results to the app on its launch day, because he did not have a code.The app’s own account replied, saying: “If your test took place in a Public Health England lab or NHS hospital, or as part of national surveillance testing conducted by the Office for National Statistics, test results cannot currently be linked with the app whether they’re positive or negative.”While DHSC said the issue had been fixed on Saturday for those who receive a positive test result, it acknowledged there was still no way for people in England to log a negative result.The Welsh government was quick to point out it had no such problems, saying: “We took the decision to link our all-Wales laboratory testing systems with the NHS Covid-19 app.“Here you’ll get a code in your test result notifications to enter into the app, whether your result is positive or negative.”Since Thursday’s launch, some people have complained of being unable to download the app, and that only positive results could be inputted if tests were booked outside the app.Read moreThe technology uses the Bluetooth signal in both Apple and Android mobile phones to detect close and sustained contact between users.But there are also fears it will have little impact unless installed by most of the public. Experts once warned an 80 per cent take-up was needed – but even the most successful apps in other countries have not topped 40 per cent.It also allows users to check and report symptoms, to book a test, to find out if the result was positive, to check the local risk level and to provide contact details to premises.A DHSC spokesperson said: “Everyone who receives a positive test result can log their result on the app. “A minority of people, such as hospital patients, who were unable to log their positive result can now request a code when contacted by NHS Test and Trace to input on their app.” The ability to log a negative result is being looked at after users said they wanted to be able to do so,  DHSC added. More

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      in US Politics

      UK to become WHO's largest state donor with 30% funding increase

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      Boris Johnson will announce a 30% increase in the UK’s funding of the World Health Organization, making the UK the single largest national donor after the US leaves.In an announcement at the UN General Assembly, he will urge it to heal “the ugly rifts” that are damaging the international fight against coronavirus.While Trump has denounced the WHO as corrupt and under China’s influence, Johnson will announce £340m in UK funding over the next four years, a 30% increase. He will also suggest the body be given greater powers to demand reports on how countries are handling a pandemic.The proposals will form part of a British vision, drawn up in conjunction with the Gates Foundation, of how future health pandemics could be better controlled, including “zoonotic labs” capable of identifying potentially dangerous pathogens in animals before they transmit to humans.Johnson’s pre-recorded video, on the final main day of the UN General Assembly and four days after most world leaders have spoken, comes at the end of a week in which China and the US have argued over responsibility for the virus. Both have refused to join the WHO effort to find a global coronavirus vaccine, preferring a national approach.Johnson will say: “After nine months of fighting Covid, the very notion of the international community looks tattered. We know that we cannot continue in this way. Unless we unite and turn our fire against our common foe, we know that everyone will lose.“Now is the time therefore – here at what I devoutly hope will be the first and last ever Zoom UNGA – for humanity to reach across borders and repair these ugly rifts. Here in the UK, the birthplace of Edward Jenner who pioneered the world’s first vaccine, we are determined to do everything in our power to work with our friends across the UN to heal those divisions and to heal the world.”Earlier at the UN this week, he said that the coronavirus “came out of left field, humanity was caught napping, let’s face it, we were woefully underprepared”.The extra UK cash comes ahead of WHO board meeting next week at which a joint Franco-German paper is to be discussed calling for more reliable, larger and less conditional funding of the WHO.The UK contribution will be set at £340m over the next four years, making it the most generous nation state contributor, Downing Street said. While the US is currently the largest funder, if Trump is re-elected president, it will pull out by next summer, taking with it as much as $900m in voluntary and compulsory contributions over two years.Apart from funding increases designed to help multilateral bodies and ensure equitable distribution of a coronavirus vaccine, once it is discovered, Johnson will also call for new pandemic early-warning systems, new global protocols for health crises and the removal of trade barriers.The WHO has set up an internal inquiry into its handling of the pandemic, including China’s role in informing the WHO that the virus was on the loose in the country.Johnson will also use his address to announce significant new investment in Covax, the international coronavirus vaccines procurement pool announced in April. The UK will contribute an initial £71m to secure purchase rights for up to 27m vaccine doses for the UK. He will also announce £500m in aid funding for the Covax advance market commitment, a facility to help 92 of the world’s poorest countries access any coronavirus vaccine at the earliest opportunity. The commitment is also designed to guarantee to private manufacturers that they will have a market for their vaccines, ensuring the necessary research and development takes place. Neither China nor the US have agreed to join Covax, preferring to keep their vaccine research under their own control.Johnson will use his UN speech to call for “a vast expansion of our ability to collect and analyse samples and distribute the findings, using health data-sharing agreements covering every country”.His speech contains no direct criticism of China’s sharing of data at the beginning of the crisis, Downing Street said. More

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      in UK Politics

      Chaffeur-driven passengers exempt from mandatory face mask rule

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      New face mask rules for taxi passengers will not apply to those in chauffeur-driven cars, Downing Street has said. The new restrictions included a rule stating passengers in taxis and private hire vehicles would have to wear face masks.However, No10 said this rule would not apply to passengers in chauffeur-driven cars – although the driver’s employer would have to ensure they could work safely.The UK prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “The employer of the chauffeur will have to make sure that their employees can work in a Covid-secure way.”Read moreWhen pressed if chauffeurs are covered by the new law, the spokesman said: “The important point to make is the driver of a licensed vehicle will be picking up a wide variety of customers throughout the day but it’s important to protect the driver from being infected from a significant number of different people.They added: “The scenario that you’re describing, that person would only be a single individual around so I don’t think they’re comparable.”The spokesperson said he would check whether the rule applies to ministers being driven around in ministerial cars.The new rule requiring taxi passengers to wear face masks came into force on Wednesday.Watch moreMr Johnson said earlier this week people will have to start wearing face masks in pubs, restaurants and other hospitality venues while moving around the site – but not when sat at tables – from Thursday.People working in hospitality and retail will also have to wear a face coverings from Thursday.Mr Johnson announced a doubling of fines to £200 for a first offence for anyone who breaks the mask-wearing rules or the “rule-of-six”.On top of these expanded face mask rules, the UK prime minister also revealed a curfew for pubs and restaurants in England and told office workers in the country to work from home where possible. New coronavirus infections topped 6,100 in the UK on Wednesday – the highest daily total since the start of May.Additional reporting by Press Association More

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      in UK Politics

      Coronavirus: Infections doubling each week in England in ‘concerning’ rise

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      Coronavirus infections are doubling every seven to eight days in England, according to a major testing programme commissioned by the government, and the R rate could be as high as 1.7. Expressing concern over the increased prevalence of Covid-19, researchers at Imperial College London said they had found evidence of an epidemic in the community “not a result of increased testing capacity”.The Real-time Assessment of Community Transmission (REACT-1) study — commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care – said its latest findings for the period 22 August and 7 September with 150,000 volunteers indicated that cases doubled every 7.7 days.It is estimated 13 people per 10,000 were infected in England in the same period, compared to 4 people per 10,000 between 24 July and 11 August – highlighting growing transmission of the virus.Read moreThe study also claims the reproduction rate of the virus now stands at 1.7 based on swab tests among volunteers. This is separate from the government’s official R rate produced weekly by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE).Professor Paul Elliot, the director of the major programme at Imperial from the school of public health, said: “Our large and robust dataset clearly shows a concerning trend in coronavirus infections, where cases are growing quickly across England and are no longer concentrated in key workers.“What we are seeing is evidence is evidence of an epidemic in the community and not a result of increased testing capacity. This is a critical time and it’s vital that the public, our health system and policy-makers are aware of the situation as we cannot afford complacency.”DHSC said the report highlighted the need for “vigilance” from the public, adding that cases of Covid-19 infections are on the rise across all adult age groups below 65 and all areas of the country, with the highest rates in Yorkshire and the Humber, the North East and North West.The department added the findings reinforced the need for social restrictions unveiled earlier this week that will restrict social gatherings – both indoors and outdoors – to six people in the first national curbs on freedoms since the lockdown was eased in England.Boris Johnson: ‘You must not meet socially in groups more than six’Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said: “We’ve seen all across the world how a rise in cases, initially among younger people, leads to hospitalisations and fatalities. The pandemic is not over, and everyone has a role to play to keep the virus at bay and avoid further restrictions.“It’s so important that everyone abides by the law and socialise in groups up to six, make space between you and those outside your household, get a test and self-isolate if you develop symptoms and wash your hands regularly. “It is vital you engage with NHS Test and Trace service if contacted to provide details of your close contacts and self-isolate if you are asked to do so.” More

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      in US Politics

      As our former lives dissolve into uncertainty, facts are something solid to cling to | Lenore Taylor

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      I have always worked with facts. I have sifted them for relevance, assembled them to make sense of things, and used them to construct an argument or to disagree with another point of view. Facts are, for journalists, the essential ingredient, like flour for bakers or clay for sculptors. So I recall very clearly how disconcerted I felt when I first sensed they were turning to liquid and sliding through my hands.It was during Tony Abbott’s campaign against the Labor government’s carbon pricing scheme – the policy he dubbed a “great big tax on everything”. There were, for sure, some factual arguments that could have been deployed against that policy, or alternative ideas that could have been raised. The then opposition leader opted for neither of these methods. Instead, he travelled the country saying things that were patently nonsensical. But most news outlets reported them uncritically, and this firehose of nonsense proved impossible to mop up. More