Latest updates: Grant Shapps says ‘lots of people are still downloading app’ as government pledges to ‘tweak’ app’s sensitivity
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Grant Shapps urged people not to ignore the NHS Covid app if they are “pinged” and advised to self-isolate.
Travel restrictions for people in England are due to be eased on July 19 but rules on self-isolation for people who are fully vaccinated will remain in place until August 16, raising fears that people will delete the app rather than risk having to cancel a holiday.
You shouldn’t ignore this because it is vital information. People should want to know if they have been in contact with somebody with coronavirus. You don’t want to be spreading it around. It can still harm people.
The medical experts will advise us on what the level of sensitivity should be relative to where we are, for example, to our vaccination programme overall.
We will follow scientific advice, keep this under review and tweak the app to be suitable to the circumstances of the time – double vaccination, for example, being at record highs in this country.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps has said there is “no sign” people are deleting the NHS Covid app to avoid being told to isolate.
He told Sky News “that’s not actually the evidence” and that the government is “still seeing lots of people downloading the app”.
As the overall nationwide levels for things like the amount of social distancing and other rules are looked at so we will look at the way that app performs with regard to the new standards being in place.
We keep a very close eye on those things. I did speak to the health secretary about it yesterday. He is very aware of this and we will keep it under constant review because we want the app to be a useful tool in our armoury.
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