Security News > 2020 > August > New Trials in England for Troubled Virus Tracing App
A previously misfiring smartphone app to help track transmission of the coronavirus will be trialled again in parts of England following two months of troubleshooting, the government said on Thursday.
The updated version of the tracing app will undergo renewed trials on the Isle of Wight, off the southern English coast, and among health volunteers nationwide, ahead of further tests in an east London district.
The UK government halted the rollout of the app in June and switched to technology developed by Apple and Google in an embarrassing U-turn after it encountered major problems with its own approach.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Thursday that officials had collaborated widely, including with countries around the world, such as Germany, adopting similar tools to develop a "State-of-the-art" app.
Health officials hope successful trials will allow them to integrate the tool into a broader testing and tracing scheme launched earlier in the summer.