The Isle of Wight was chosen to test out U.K.’s National Health Service application aimed at tracking and tracing the spread of coronavirus. Watch the video to see a resident test the app on its first day in action.
The app, rolled out for trial on the Isle of Wight Thursday, is central to the efforts of Boris Johnson’s government to end the restrictions that have shut much of the British economy. If people can be quickly isolated after they’ve come into contact with an infected person, others can be allowed to go about their lives.
But success depends on the app working, and on very large numbers of people trusting the government with their data. Privacy campaigners and data scientists warn that the U.K. is putting both of those at risk by adopting its own model, rather than the one supported by Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Apple Inc.
From initially resisting calls for a lockdown to failing to join a European Union effort to buy much-needed personal protective equipment, the U.K. has gone its own way during the pandemic, with questionable results. Britain is now the European country with the highest level of Covid-19 deaths.
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