Coronavirus: NHS tracking app rolled out in Isle of Wight

The NHS have rolled out a new 'contact tracing' app for testing.

The trial will be taking place on the Isle of Wight, an island in the UK with a population of around 150,000 people.

The aim is to try to track who may have coronavirus and to alert other people they might have been in contact with.

Council and healthcare workers will be some of the first people to try it out later this week.

The island was chosen for the test because, there are only a small number of people with the virus, there is only one NHS trust, and travel in and out of the island is quite limited.

How does the app work?

The app has two aims.

First, it asks people to type in any symptoms they might have and encourages them to speak to the NHS if it sounds like they might have coronavirus.

Second, the app is supposed to help identify people who might have met someone with the virus.

The app 'tracks' who the user comes into contact with - say in a shop or at school - as long as they both have the app.

The hope is that if someone believes they have developed Covid-19, the app will be able to alert people who have had contact with them recently - even if it was just standing next to them in a queue at a bus stop.

The phones will tell each other the people have been near each other even if the people never actually spoke.

This is done by each person's app 'recognising' the other user's app using bluetooth.

The idea is that this app will become useful when lockdown measures are relaxed in the future.

What are the concerns?

People will be asked to enter the first part of their postcode but not their name or other personal details

There have been some worries over people's privacy when using the app - because it tracks where you have been and who you have met.

However the UK's government ministers have said the app was designed with privacy "front of mind" and people don't have to download it.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said if the test in the Isle of Wight goes well, the app could be available to the rest of the UK within a few weeks.

"By downloading the app, you are protecting your own health, you are protecting the health of your loved ones and the health of your community," he said.

"Where the Isle of Wight goes, Britain follows."