England Launches COVID-19 App To Boost Contact Tracing

“The launch of the app later this month across England and Wales is a defining moment and will aid our ability to contain the virus at a critical time,” he said in a statement on Friday.

Previous attempts to develop more sophisticated tracing apps have struggled to expand beyond the pilot stage, and the government has faced criticism after missing launch deadlines.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has banned groups of more than six people from meeting from Monday as the government tries to keep the spread of the virus under control amid a sharp rise in cases in recent days.

The UK recorded 2,919 new daily confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, and cases have started to track much higher than the levels of around 1,000 per day recorded in August.