June 24, 2020

expert reaction to Boris Johnson’s comments that no country has a functional contact tracing app

There have been journalists questions about Boris Johnson’s claims that no country in the world has a functioning contact tracing app. 

Prof Martin Hibberd, Professor of Emerging Infectious Disease, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said:

“There are a number of countries with a working contact tracing App, for example Singapore’s “Trace Together” which has been working since March and has been downloaded by nearly half the population.  However, these Apps are not seen as the only way to trace contacts and should be used as part of a package of tools.  One problem is that enthusiasm for these Apps seems to be related to the amount of trust there is in the government’s use of the data collected.  To be most effective, most people need to use them and that seems difficult for many places.  However, even at lower rates of adoption they can still play an important part in helping to control the virus.”

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www.sciencemediacentre.org/tag/covid-19

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