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Coronavirus: Some users of NHS tracing app incorrectly given COVID-19 exposure alerts
Sep 30, 2020
Some users of the new NHS contact-tracing app have received notifications saying they'd been near someone with coronavirus, only to discover the alerts were system checks sent by Google and Apple.
People who downloaded the COVID-19 app in England and Wales told Sky News they had received a notification which said: "Someone you were near reported having COVID-19."
Yet, when they clicked on the message, they found no information explaining whether they should self-isolate.
The Department of Health and Social Care confirmed it was a "default message" sent by Google and Apple - the makers of the app's technology - but it had already caused confusion, forcing at least one user into avoidable self-isolation.
"I'm now self-isolating, just to be on the safe side... I don't know whether it's correct or not," Maurice Leaver said. He received the message on Sunday, the day after downloading the app, and had been unable to clarify the situation with contact tracers.
Kathryn Sian, a biomedical scientist in an NHS lab, received the same notification, but went into work after reading about it online.
She said the "very stressful" message gave her "no confidence in this app at all", adding: "I've turned off the contact tracing for now, only using it to check in at venues."
Both Mr Leaver and Ms Sian described how the default messages "disappeared". Although clicking on it took them to the homepage of the app, there was no sign it had ever been sent.
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