Richard has called on residents in North East Bedfordshire to download the new NHS Covid-19 app, which has now launched across England and Wales following rigorous testing and successful trials.
The NHS Covid-19 app will alert users if they have been close to someone who later tests positive for coronavirus, as well as providing risk alerts based on a user’s postcode, allow users to scan QR codes to check in at venues on the app and allow people to book tests, if they have symptoms.
The app works by logging the amount of time you spend near other app users, and the distance between you, so it can alert you if someone you have been close to later tests positive for Covid-19 – even if you don’t know each other. The app will advise you to self-isolate if you have been in close contact with a confirmed case.
The UK’s major mobile network operators, including Vodafone, Three, EE and O2, Sky and Virgin, have confirmed that all in-app activity will not come out of customers’ data allowance.
Businesses are now required by law to display NHS Test and Trace QR code posters so customers with the NHS Covid-19 app can use it to check-in to venues. So far, more than 90,000 businesses have already downloaded QR codes. Venues in Wales that are legally required to collect and keep a record of visitors will still need to do so.
The app has been through successful trials in the Isle of Wight, Newham and among NHS Volunteer Responders and lessons learned have informed the final version that has now launched.
Commenting, Richard said: “The new NHS Covid-19 app will be an important tool for helping to reduce the spread of the virus. I urge everyone in North East Bedfordshire who can to download this new app as soon as possible, to protect themselves and their loved ones. And of course, it is vital that all of us continue to follow those golden rules of Hands, Face, Space, and that people self-isolate when told to do so.”
Further information about the NHS COVID-19 app can be found in the FAQs section on the website: https://faq.covid19.nhs.uk/ This contains details such as what to do when you don't have your phone with you all the time (for example, if you store it in a locker at the gym) and how it's decided if you should receive a contact tracing alert.
