Responding to reports that the Government is now shifting to a COVID-19 tracing app based on technology provided by Apple and Google, Liberal Democrat Digital, Culture Media and Sport spokesperson Daisy Cooper said: “Every minute counts in the fight to contain COVID-19, but the Government has spent months working on this now failed app – which many of us warned from the start would not keep people safe.
“Ministers must accept that legal assurances are needed to rapidly re-build public trust and keep people safe. They must start by ensuring that restrictions are put in place to regulate how the big tech companies they are now working with can access, use and store people’s medical information and other personal data.
“Any app is, of course, only part of the broader test, trace and isolate system, yet there is still not one part of this system that is up and running properly. The Government must urgently ramp up testing and tracing to prevent a new surge as the lockdown is eased.”