The NHS Covid-19 app is now live in England & Wales

[Redolent]

For iPhones at least, not sure about Android yet.

My postcode is ‘medium risk’ apparently...

@8thplace, uninstall & reload it -- worked for me 10 minutes ago but also failed yesterday.

@lljkk

required to use it at my swimming pool, apparently. Must check in. I presume checking in will become mandatory at lots of places. I wonder how the 7am swimmers are managing, since it was impossible to download yesterday without activation code used in the pilot areas.

So now there's a phone theft risk every time I go swimming since we can't lock our stuff up while in the water.

I already know my area is low risk, lowest prevalence in England.

What if you don't have a smart phone? Still haven't worked out why mine won't run it

Ah no, have realised my iPhone is a 6 not a 6S, that's obviously the wrong side of the "border".....

Installed it
Haven't got it on my phone
If it appears randomly on someone else's, I may have put it there!

I just had a look at the reviews and I am on holiday in a different part of the uk and it looks like you should put in your home postcode so it won’t tell me about where I am now. I will put it on my phone tomorrow when I get home as I don’t want to confuse it from the outset.

Matt Hancock on BBC now about it

So the self isolation is vountary.

Voluntary

Not required by law to self isolate unless you want any financial support like sick pay or I guess this £500 they mentioned

I’ve just installed it. I live in the countryside which it says is a low risk area. But cases have been increasing here. Not sure how long it’ll be a low risk.

I have downloaded it and it says my postcode is a low risk area too.

Although my county is on a watch list apparently.

If you read the risk information England only has high and medium risk categories. Wales has high, medium and low. Refreshingly just as senseless as everything else really

I was very keen to use this app, but have just read that up to half of all notifications to self isolate are false positives. As a family we’ve already self isolated 3 times now. We will willingly take the hit and do it again and again if needed, but can’t afford to do it on a 50% chance we’ve been within 2m of a Covid case. People who live or work in urban areas, live in flats or use public transport will surely be SI quite often if they use this. I know they are saying they won’t fine people who don’t self isolate on the recommendation of the app, but surely it will prevent you checking into places as a minimum.

I also wonder whether mischief-makers and the tin-foil-hat brigade will purposefully sink it by downloading it and logging positive Covid results to create chaos.

Which venues in England should display the official NHS QR code poster?

If your business or venue falls into one of the sectors or categories that should provide a customer log, then you are also now expected to display an NHS QR code poster at your venue when the app launches nationally. This applies if you provide:

hospitality services, including pubs, bars, restaurants and cafés

tourism and leisure services, including hotels, museums, cinemas, zoos and theme parks

close contact services, including hairdressers, barbershops and tailors

facilities provided by Local Authorities, including town halls and civic centres for events, community centres, libraries and children’s centres

places of worship, including use for events and other community activities

If you have a venue outside of these categories that is visited by members of the public and has a space where people congregate, then we also encourage you to create a QR code poster for the entrance to that venue.

By supporting the official NHS QR code poster system, you'll be protecting your visitors and your business. You will help to slow the spread of the virus, reduce the impact of any second wave, and help normal life to resume more quickly.

no doubt that in the near future entry to these places will be dependent on scanning the qr code

faq.covid19.nhs.uk/article/KA-01183/en-us?parentid=CAT-01043&rootid=CAT-01027

Hmm
Now just getting an "Error" message.

no doubt that in the near future entry to these places will be dependent on scanning the qr code
How will that work if people don't have a smartphone?

@mosscarpet

hmm interesting. So an alert telling someone to self isolate is triggered using an algorithm. Well, given the governments track record on algorithms judging by the GCSE and A Level results fiasco I think it may be safer to make my own judegements!! Also, cant see how I could use it. I work for NHS and visit a lot of patients at home. I would have my phone with me at these times.Sometimes 2M distance is not possible, but I am wearing full PPE. Therefor would not be required to self isolate as it stands if a patient tested positive. But there seems to be no option in the app for specifying you were wearing PPE? Therefor potentially I could be often asked to self isolate every time a patient tests positive if the pt had the app on their phone- yeah right, work will love that !!

I am sure I read some guideline that said to toggle the tracking off if you are working with patients - let me see if I can find it

faq.covid19.nhs.uk/article/KA-01100/en-us?parentid=CAT-01033&rootid=

You can pause contact tracing within the app by moving the contact tracing toggle on the home screen.

If you’re a health or care worker practising infection prevention and control (IPC), including wearing correct PPE, you should pause contact tracing on your app.

You should also pause the app when:

you’re working behind a fixed Perspex (or equivalent) screen and are fully protected from other people - you should be adequately protected

you store your phone in a locker or communal area

Remember to turn contact tracing back on once you leave this situation.

I have just downloaded it and it does provide a lot of information in one place so it could be useful if you are unsure of the latest advice. I will be keeping an eye on battery usage, though.

@TheSockMonster

I was very keen to use this app, but have just read that up to half of all notifications to self isolate are false positives. As a family we’ve already self isolated 3 times now. We will willingly take the hit and do it again and again if needed, but can’t afford to do it on a 50% chance we’ve been within 2m of a Covid case. People who live or work in urban areas, live in flats or use public transport will surely be SI quite often if they use this. I know they are saying they won’t fine people who don’t self isolate on the recommendation of the app, but surely it will prevent you checking into places as a minimum.

I also wonder whether mischief-makers and the tin-foil-hat brigade will purposefully sink it by downloading it and logging positive Covid results to create chaos.

Don’t you need to enter the test code given to you by the testing centre? So not really open to sabotage?

Just downloaded too. Ours is a high risk area but I already knew that so it’s not telling me anything new.

At the community centre I'm a trustee of, we've been told we must display the QR code by law, so people can check in but we're not insisting on it as all our hirers have to collect details of who come to their groups each session and this is more useful info anyway. Venues can't insist on it as not everyone has the right phone. It works on my 4 year old Android model though.