U.K. Runs Trial on Virus App; Deaths Fall to Lowest in Month
U.K. Reports 288 New Coronavirus Deaths, Fewest Since End of March
(Bloomberg) --
The U.K. government, under pressure to ease the coronavirus lockdown, will start rolling out a contact-tracing mobile phone app after posting the smallest daily increase in deaths from the disease since the end of March.
The software is being trialled in the Isle of Wight and, if successful, will be rolled out nationwide. If enough people install it, the app should help isolate new cases of Covid quickly, limiting the spread of the virus and allowing the rest of the country to start returning to normal.
“By downloading the app, you’re protecting your own health, the health of your loved ones, and the health of your community,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock said at a briefing in London on Monday. “This trial does not mean the end of social distancing on the Isle of Wight, or anywhere else for that matter.”
The announcement came at the beginning of a key week for the British government in which it may set out how it will begin to ease restrictions that have brought large parts of the economy to a standstill. Businesses are set to be told to stagger shifts and enforce social-distancing measures if they want to re-open, according to people familiar with the plans.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said businesses will have government support for wages withdrawn gradually and there won’t be a “cliff-edge” when the lockdown is lifted. Some 6.3 million employees are currently having 80% of their salaries paid by the government under a furlough program scheduled to run until the end of June.
“There will be no cliff edge to the furlough scheme. I am working as we speak to figure out the most effective way to wind down the scheme and ease people back into work in a measured way,” Sunak told ITV News. “Some scenarios have suggested we are potentially spending as much on the furlough scheme as we do on the NHS for example,” Sunak said, adding “clearly that is not a sustainable situation.”
Hancock said a further 288 people had died from coronavirus in the U.K., down from 315 the day before. The daily tally has usually been lower following a weekend, but Monday’s figures -- which include deaths in care homes as well as hospitals -- are also lower than the week-earlier figure.
Some 3,985 more people tested positive for the virus, compared to 4,339 the day before. On Sunday, 85,186 tests were provided, more than the 76,496 offered the day before.
“New cases have to come down further,” Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Jonathan Van-Tam, said at the briefing. “We have to get cases lower.”
Data Secure?
The government said its contact-tracing app has been signed off by the National Cyber Security Centre, is secure and users’ data will be protected.
“People really should feel very reassured,” John Newton, the national testing coordinator, told reporters.
In other developments:
- Hancock said the U.K. is in talks with Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche Holding AG about a mass roll-out of antibody tests, but nothing is yet confirmed
- The government is studying why a disproportionately large number of black and minority-ethnic people die from the coronavirus
- Van-Tam said the overwhelming majority of people studied in the U.K. have developed antibodies after contracting the infection, but more work needs to be done to see if the antibodies persist
- The first vaccines will “more likely than not” be licensed to adults before children, Van-Tam said.
Hancock brushed off concerns that so-called anti-vaxxers would reduce the effectiveness of any vaccine, if one is developed, by refusing to use it. He said he expects there to be no need to make vaccination compulsory to halt the spread of the disease.
“The extent of the public’s reaction following the lockdown shows we will be able to achieve very, very high levels of vaccination without taking that step,” Hancock said when asked if it would be mandatory. “There has been no greater demonstration in modern history that vaccines save lives than the need for a vaccine to save lives and to get the world going again following the outbreak of COVID-19.”
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.