“Stay at Home, Install the App, Protect the NHS, Save Lives.”

By Tim Le Couilliard, Senior Executive

During today’s Downing Street briefing, Matt Hancock the Health Secretary revealed more details on the contact-tracing app being trialled this week on the Isle of Wight – part of the “Test, Track, Trace” strategy. The briefing focused heavily on the tracking element of the strategy and how the UK is going to use the “massive testing capability that has been built” – Hancock updated that there have now been 1,291,000 tests for coronavirus, with 85,186 taking place on Sunday (of a daily capacity of 108,000 a day). In other statistics, 28,734 have now died, a daily increase of 288 – the lowest figure since the end of March (which Hancock notes may be partly due to the lower reports over the weekend).

This led Hancock on to the next part of the strategy – track and trace. The target is to “Hunt down and isolating the virus so it is unable to reproduce”, which will enable a more targeted approach to lockdown. The government has begun building an army of human contact tracers and been developing the contact tracing app which will enable the mass scale roll-out of the strategy.

Focusing on the app itself, Hancock stated that it will provide privacy and security and has already been tested in an RAF base. It is now ready to be tested from tomorrow on the Isle of Wight, starting with health professionals and then all Islanders. Hancock noted that the island is suitable as it has one NHS trust, one local authority, a relatively low number of coronavirus cases, and, because it is an island, the trial can be run as a scientific trial with controlled conditions. 

From tonight, the contact tracing capability will go live, and from tomorrow NHS staff on the island will be able to download the app. On Thursday, each one of the 80,000 households will get a letter with information on the trial and will be asked to download the app. The app will then start logging distances between phones using Bluetooth and proximity data will be stored on the phone, securely. If a person then becomes unwell with symptoms, they will inform the NHS through the app and then other users, with whom the owner has had “significant contact” with in the previous few days, will then be sent an alert from the NHS, with advice for what to do. There will also be the function to order a testing kit.

Addressing the Islanders, Hancock called for people on the island to download the app. Hancock was keen to stress that the app development does not mean the end of social distancing on the Isle of Wight or anywhere else and that the measures will only be eased when the government is confident of its five tests being met.

As with today’s official Downing Street statement, there have also been some unofficial announcements today including the leaked draft government advice on the plan to ease the lockdown measures. The leaked documents, which Newgate believes will form part of the official advice expected to be published on the weekend, includes guidance for workplaces, offices, factories, and details guidance relevant to most sectors. The Prime Minister is expected to make a statement on Sunday, which should provide a ‘roadmap’ on the easing of the lockdown and restrictions (the three-week review is on Thursday).

Moments before the daily briefing, HM Revenue and Customs published its latest update on the Job Retention Scheme. The figures showed that 6.3 million jobs have now been furloughed by 800,000 employers, at the cost of £8 billion pounds.

The number of spare critical beds in the NHS is currently 3,413. The London Nightingale Hospital at the Excel Centre is to be put on standby this week. It currently has around only 20 patients, and once those patients have been discharged the field hospital is expected to be placed into “hibernation”.