London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Sep 19, 2025

NHS Covid app to be tweaked to cut need for self-isolation

NHS Covid app to be tweaked to cut need for self-isolation

Ministers decide to make app less sensitive amid fears millions will have to stay home over next month

Ministers have decided to tune the NHS Covid app to make it less sensitive, amid concerns that rocketing cases will lead to millions of people self-isolating over the next month.

New rules that will exempt double-jabbed people in England from having to isolate if a close contact has tested positive – allowing them to take tests instead – are due to come into force on 16 August.

Ministers had been warned that cases could be up to 25% higher if the new regime came in at the same time as most Covid restrictions were lifted on 19 July.

But with the health secretary, Sajid Javid, conceding that cases could still be set to hit 100,000 a day, business groups had warned of closures and staff shortages.

Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of the trade body UKHospitality, said the high number of self-isolating employees was already causing “carnage” for pubs, bars and restaurants.

The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, acknowledged public frustration on Thursday, and said Javid was looking at an “appropriate, balanced and proportionate” approach for the app.

Jenny Harries, the head of the new Health Security Agency, later told MPs on the House of Commons public accounts committee that the government planned to tweak the app to account for the fact that the majority of adults were now vaccinated.

“We have a piece of work ongoing at the moment because it is entirely possible to tune the app to ensure that it is appropriate to the risk,” she said.

“When the app came into action, we know it has been hugely successful, but it has been utilised in a world where we did not have vaccinations.

“So working through what a vaccinated population using the app means is something that we are actively doing at the moment.”

Her comments followed reports of numerous people deleting the NHS Covid app before the government’s planned lockdown easing in England on 19 July through fear of being contacted. A user is not legally required to self-isolate when alerted by the app because all data is anonymous.

More than 32,000 coronavirus cases were recorded on Wednesday, the highest daily figure since January.


The chancellor told Sky News: “I’ve spoken to the health secretary about this and he is aware of the frustration that people have around this. We have two different systems for the test and trace: we have obviously the NHS one, and we also have the app. I know most people’s concerns rest with how the app is working and the health secretary is aware of that.

“The app counts for the majority of people who need to isolate, I understand on the numbers, and he’s looking at what the most appropriate, balanced and proportionate approach to isolation is in these circumstances.”

Business groups welcomed the planned change. John Foster, the CBI’s director of policy, said: “It’s welcome to see the government is considering changes to the NHS Covid app self-isolation rules ahead of 16 August. Boosting customer and employee confidence is the priority for supporting the economic recovery and learning to live with the virus.”

Michael Veale, a lecturer in digital rights and regulation at University College London, said it was important any change was driven by the behaviour of the virus, not political pressure.

“The question should always come back to the epidemiology,” he said. “With a person who is double-vaccinated, do we still believe that 15 minutes’ contact at a distance of 2 metres puts them at risk of developing the virus?”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Massive Strikes in France Pressure Macron and New PM on Austerity Proposals
Trump Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
Hillary Clinton’s Reckless Rhetoric Fuels Division After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
×