https://tech.newstatesman.com/coronavirus/only-40-per-cent-of-most-vulnerable-likely-to-use-nhsx-contact-tracing-app

Amid strategic meltdown over PPE and testing, the UK government has made steady progress on at least one prong of its Covid-19 approach: the NHSX contact tracing app. The BBC reported today that the app is being tested out at an RAF base in North Yorkshire and is billed for release in mid-May – potentially around the time that lockdown restrictions start to be eased.  

The UK government has confirmed few technological details about the app, except that it will be based on Bluetooth Low Energy, a feature that is included as standard on all of today’s smartphones. However, an app-based approach towards contact tracing risks excluding older demographics, who are least likely to use smartphones, but are most at risk of dying from the virus.