NHS Covid-19 app launches for the over-16s
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has urged people in England and Wales to download the Government’s coronavirus contact tracing app because it will “make the country a safer place”.
Speaking this morning, he said: “The more people that download this app, the more useful it will be.”
But critics say it cannot be loaded on older smartphones and say there is no legal obligation to self-isolate.
The app rollout comes as more than 100 people at the University of Glasgow tested positive for coronavirus, amid fears that students across Britain will be asked to stay on campus over the Christmas holidays.
124 students in two university halls have been struck down after increased social activity during Freshers Week.
The university said the actual number of infected students was “likely to be higher”, and added that 600 people were self-isolating.
Elsewhere, Chancellor Rishi Sunak will today announce a replacement for the furlough scheme as part of a new economic rescue package to get the country through six more months of Covid restrictions.
A wage subsidy scheme will top up the pay of people who work at least half their normal hours in an attempt to avoid mass redundancies when the furlough scheme ends next month.
