People should make ‘informed decision’ if pinged by Covid app, minister says

Business minister Paul Scully said it was up to employers and individuals to decide how to respond to a notification from the NHS Covid-19 app.
A message to self-isolate (PA)
PA Wire

A government minister has suggested that people should not automatically self-isolate if they are “pinged” by the NHS Covid-19 app but should instead make an “informed decision” about what to do.

Business minister Paul Scully said self-isolating after being told to by the app was a decision for individuals and employers.

Although it has never been a legal requirement to follow the app’s instructions, the official NHS guidance has been that people should “self-isolate immediately” when told to.

Mr Scully told Times Radio: “The app is there… to allow you to make informed decisions. And I think by backing out of mandating a lot of things, we’re encouraging people to really get the data in their own hands to be able to make decisions on what’s best for them, whether they’re employer or an employee.”

Asked whether this meant people should or should not self-isolate if “pinged”, he said: “We want to encourage people to still use the app to be able to do the right thing, because we estimate it saves around 8,000 lives.”

However, he added that it was “up to individuals and employers”.

People dancing in Bar Fibre in Leeds, after the final legal coronavirus restrictions were lifted in England (PA)
PA Wire

It comes amid growing frustrations from employers after hundreds of their staff could not come into work after being pinged by the app.

Iceland said that it has now shut some shops because 1,000 staff have been alerted by the app.

While Greene King has closed 33 pubs in the past week due to staff self-isolating.

It’s estimated that 1.73 million were isolating on Sunday -including Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak.

Professor Sir Jonathan Montgomery, who chaired the ethics advisory board for NHSx on its contact tracing app, told Times Radio the Government needed to give clearer guidance to people about what to do when told to self-isolate.

“When we had no protection the risk was the same for everybody. If that risk is now reduced because someone is double-vaccinated it feels as though we need more sophisticated advice,” Sir Jonathan said.

“If we are visiting an elderly relative or a cancer patient then take the ping seriously but if you are doing something relatively Covid-friendly then maybe make a different decision.”

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