https://tech.newstatesman.com/coronavirus/nhsx-contact-tracing-app-uk-coronavirus-crisis

China was quick to roll out widespread bio-surveillance measures in response to the coronavirus crisis. A few months into the ongoing global pandemic, many nations, including liberal democracies, are also trialling or rolling out some form of tracking in response to the viral outbreak. The UK is set to launch a new app from NHSX, the health service’s innovation arm, that will use Bluetooth technology to track the spread of infection. It’s been billed as an integral part of a strategy that will allow us to lift lockdown conditions and more hastily return to some kind of normalcy. But there are a number of reasons that the promise of this technology is perhaps overstated. 

First is the issue of adoption. The app will apparently be voluntary to download, but at least 60 per cent of the population will need to do so in order for it to be effective. That’s roughly 40 million people. The app’s design was inspired by Singapore’s TraceTogether technology, but the adoption rate for that – also voluntary – app doesn’t bode well for the NHS. About 12 per cent of Singapore’s population signed up. The low adoption rate is exacerbated by the fact that the technology depends on users encountering other people who have also downloaded the app in the wild. In Singapore’s case, “roughly 1 per cent of random contacts would be covered” former national coordinator for health information technology at the US Department of Health and Human Services, Farzad Mostashari, wrote on Twitter. “Even if you get 1/3 of the population to adopt it, only 9 per cent of contacts will be covered.”