) “We should be following … a low-tech model, using people and telephone [interviews].
“Clinical observation, we found in China and Singapore and Korea, is actually more efficient and gives many more positives.”
The NHS hopes to release the app by mid-May, although a final decision on timing will be taken by the government.
Shopping simulation
RAF Leeming was chosen to host the trial of an early “alpha” version of the software because it has past experience of testing apps and other new Operations on behalf of the military.
It set up a scenario designed to simulate people’s experience of going shopping, using Bluetooth LE (low energy) signals to log when two phones were near to each other.
“We still have to apply the rules [on] social distancing as we carry it out,” said Gp Capt Blythe Crawford.
“So therefore we’ve set up a scenario whereby people will leave their phones on a table simulating that it’s in a shopping arcade, for example, whilst other people might walk past looking in the shop window and their phone happens to pick up it’s in proximity to another one. “
The on-screen warning for those deemed to be at risk says: “If you’re on public transport, go home by the most direct route [and] stay at least 2m [6.6ft] away from people if you can … find a room where you can close the door [and] avoid touching people, surfaces and object s. “
There are plans for a more realistic follow-up” beta test ” at a later date – possibly in a remote community, where its use would be voluntary – by which time the text will have been changed.
Hidden identities
The tool has been developed by the health service’s digital innovation unit, NHSX.
The two companies are pressing developers to adopt a “decentralized approach”, whereby it would be impossible for either specific users or those they had come into contact with to be identified by the authorities or any other external party.
In any case, NHSX believes its system already prevents it from being able to identify users until they request a swab test.
NHSX also believes it has found a way to ensure its software continues to work in the background on iOS devices.
If true, this would avoid a problem that has limited take-up of a similar app in Singapore.
Epidemiologists have said 80% of smartphone owners need to use the app if it is to suppress, rather than just slow, the spread of the virus after lockdown measures are relaxed. But as about % of smartphones in active use in the UK do not support the bluetooth LE standard required, the target figure will actually be higher.
And the government is examining ways to increase involvement.
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