NHS Covid app (pictured) will not be made less sensitive for weeks, reports say
The NHS Covid contact-tracing app won't be made less sensitive for weeks because of mounting concerns over rising infection rates, it was claimed today.
Fears have been raised that the software will create a 'pingdemic' by forcing millions to take time off work, potentially leaving supermarket shelves empty and mountains of rubbish piling up in the street.
Ministers are planning to tweak the app to reduce the number of people who are told to self-isolate as a result of being 'pinged'.
But sources told The Times that no imminent changes are expected, and that it may only be made weaker on August 16 — the same day quarantine rules end for the fully-vaccinated.
And they claimed a review of the app — ordered by the newly-appointed Health Secretary Sajid Javid — may not amount to anything.
Ministers are understood to have been spooked by soaring infection rates, with the pressure of the third wave having started to trickle through into hospitals.
And SAGE advisers have warned they will only continue to rise, with around 2,000 admissions a day expected later this summer.
No10 wants to know how many more infections will be spotted if the app asks fewer people to self-isolate, the newspaper claimed.
People who are 'pinged' are not legally obliged to isolate, which means there is little stopping Britons from simply deleting the software or ignoring its alerts.
Polling yesterday revealed a fifth of Britons are planning to delete the app and one in three 18 to 24-year-olds have ALREADY? done so.
Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick called on Britons to keep using the app today, but hinted ministers were still mulling over how to update it.
He told LBC: 'It is important that we have the app, that we take it seriously, that when we do get those messages we act accordingly.
'But we are going to give further thought to how we can ensure it is a proportionate response.'
Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick (pictured visiting Redcar last week) said ministers were still considering how the app could be updated
There are mounting warnings supermarket shelves could be left empty by the app, and bins could also be left to rot in the street because there are not enough staff available to self-isolate
