The NHS COVID-19 app broke a new record after it notified the most number of users ever in a week, warning that they have come in contact with a novel coronavirus carrier. As such, self-isolation is necessary.
A person holding a mobile phone displaying the NHS app. The NHS app will be used by holidaymakers in England to prove their coronavirus status to destination countries, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has announced. Picture date: Wednesday April 28, 2021.
The National Health Service Test and Trace app has been notifying its users in the United Kingdom if they have been near a person who is COVID-19 positive.
The NHS app interestingly works via Bluetooth, which then pings its users when they have come near a person who recently tested positive for COVID-19.
Moreover, users can give their location to the app via a QR code system. That said, it could track when a person turns out to be positive from COVID and notify the people they got contact with.
NHS COVID-19 App: Highest Number of Pinged Users Ever
As per SkyNews, the NHS app has already sent a total of 520,194 alerts in a span of a week, asking its users to self-isolate.
The alarming figures saw a steep 46% increase than the preceding week that drew about 356,677 pings from the app. Not to mention that the latest data is also the highest ever since the NHS started disclosing the data in January.
Record-Breaking Numbers and Businesses
The record-breaking figures are alarmingly disrupting some businesses.
ITV reported that some unions have claimed that the rising numbers seen from the latest data of the app are badly affecting some factories.
Unite noted that some businesses are already on the tipping point of halting their operations as their manpower goes on to self-isolate.
The assistant general secretary of Unite, Steve Turner, goes on to say that the business closure warning is not an "exaggeration," adding that the government has to do something about it.
Read Also: COVID Boosters: WHO Slams Countries Ordering Boosters, More Serious Side Effects Warned
NHS COVID-19 App Previous Errors
Although the app is still being implemented by the British government today, it has faced some unfortunate incidents in the past.
During its early days, on September 25, 2020, a design flaw of the NHS COVID-19 app falsely alerted some of its users to self-isolate unnecessarily.
The problem specifically pings people that visited a location wherein someone tested positive for the novel coronavirus, regardless if it is the same day or time.
As such, some users have mistakenly undergone self-isolation even if they did not actually come into contact with the person that figured to be COVID-19 positive.
Meanwhile, the NHS COVID-19 app figured another bug that forbids its users using Android phones from uploading their information on a more recent note.
Nevertheless, these app problems had occurred in the past.
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Written by Teejay Boris
