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An NHS contact-tracing app aimed at limiting the future spread of coronavirus will be trialled on the Isle of Wight this week, a cabinet minister has told Sky News.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps revealed the English Channel island will be the first place in the UK where the new, "exciting" NHS smartphone app will be used.
It has previously been suggested that areas that trial the contact-tracing app could also have
coronavirus
lockdown measures eased, in an experiment of how the entire UK could exit stringent social distancing rules.
Speaking to Sky News' Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, Mr Shapps explained how the NHS app would "alert people if they've been near somebody who is later diagnosed with having coronavirus".
He added this would be "a fantastic way to ensure that we are really able to keep a lid on this going forward and we don't get that second wave" of
COVID-19
infections.
As well as the NHS app, the government have promised to employ 18,000 contact-tracers by the middle of this month, as it pursues a "test, track and trace" strategy with a view to lifting the UK's lockdown.
"Later in the month, that app will be rolled out and deployed - assuming the tests are successful, of course - to the population at large," Mr Shapps said.
"The idea is we will encourage as many people to take this up as possible.
"It's going to be a huge national effort.
"We need for this to work, 50% to 60% of people to be using this app."
Contact-tracing apps: the problems and potential
Mr Shapps described downloading the app, when it is available across the country, as "the best possible way to help the NHS".
Referencing the weekly "Clap For Carers" applause, he said: "On a Thursday night, when people are going out and clapping in future, the ability to do something else of use, which will be to download that app, will be a great way to support the NHS."
