Hi, it's Matt.
This week, the NHS COVID-19 test and trace up
for England and Wales has finally been released,
and I highly recommend that you, your friends,
and family instal it to help keep you safe.
The NHS abandoned the original app,
and have made a new one that uses the very secure
Exposure Notification System from Google and Apple.
This doesn't know your location
or send any personal data to the government,
yet can still inform you if you've been near someone
who's tested positive for COVID-19.
This sounds like magic I know.
I'll explain how it works,
and how it's designed to keep your data safe.
(fanfare)
Many countries around the world are now using
Google and Apple secure Exposure Notification System,
to help stop the spread of coronavirus
through contact tracing.
This includes the UK with separate apps
for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
And there's also Republic of Ireland, Italy, Germany,
Denmark, Austria, Canada, several US States, Brazil
just to name a few who are also using the system.
So, what is contact tracing?
The World Health Organisation can explain this one
more concisely than me.
- [Instructor] Contact tracing is the process
of identifying, assessing, and managing people
who've been exposed to a disease,
to prevent onward transmission.
When systematically applied,
contact tracing will break the chains of transmission,
and is an essential public health tool
for controlling infectious disease outbreaks.
- Because people may transmit COVID-19
when they haven't got any symptoms,
the WHO guidance also emphasises the importance
of quarantining contacts, to further reduce the potential
for secondary transmission.
(chiming tone)
This is actually really clever,
because it does it without knowing your location,
who you are, or who you've been with
using constantly changing, randomly generated IDs instead.
These are stored on your phone
and not sent to Google or Apple.
And it doesn't reveal any personal information
to your region's public health authority
or government either.
All they have is a list of these random IDs
from people who have tested positive from COVID-19,
but only if they have consented to sharing them.
(chiming tone)
This first bit is done by the Exposure Notification System
built into your phone, not your region's app.
It generates a random ID for your device,
which actually changes every 10 to 20 minutes,
to make sure the IDs can't be used to identify you
or your location.
In the background, it'll exchange your phone's current ID
with the phones around you, using low power Bluetooth,
and ends up with a temporary list of IDs
you've been near in the last 14 days.
It regularly downloads the list of random IDs
of everyone who's tested positive
for COVID-19 in your region,
then checks it against the temporary list of IDs
on your phone, to see if you've been in contact
with one of them.
If there's a match, it'll get your region's app
to notify you that you've been in contact
with someone who's tested positive,
and will give you local advice on what to do next.
It doesn't tell you who it was or where,
because it doesn't know.
(chiming tone)
When you get a positive test result,
you can choose to enter this into your region's app.
With your consent, this will then upload the list
of random IDs your phones used in the last 14 days,
so that other phones that have common contact with these IDs
can alert their users.
(chiming tone)
99% of mobile devices worldwide
run either Google's Android or Apple's iOS,
and make apps available through Google's Play Store
or Apple's App Store.
So, they're in a great position to combine forces
and distribute this technology to the world.
Google and Apple are only allowing
public health authorities apps to use this technology,
and only if the apps meet specific criteria around privacy,
security and data use.
(chiming tone)
With traditional contact tracing,
you'll be asked to remember who you've been with recently
and to share their contact details.
The relevant authority will then contact them,
to let them know they've been near someone
who's now tested positive.
This new digital system is great,
because it doesn't rely on your memory
and giving away people's details.
But it's main strong point
is that it can alert so many more people,
who otherwise wouldn't know they've been in contact
with someone with COVID-19.
This includes time spent on public transport,
queuing to get into a shop, or more importantly
the tables around you at a pub or restaurant,
because you're not wearing a mask if you're eating,
it has so much more potential to spread further.
(chiming tone)
I posted on my Twitter and Instagram,
suggesting people download their local app
and heard back many questions and concerns.
Here are the main ones.
(chiming tone)
It doesn't.
It's a list of randomly generated IDs,
which you can't trace back to specific people,
places or devices.
It only stores this on your phone
and deletes it after 14 days.
(chiming tone)
The Exposure Notification System
does not know your location.
And in fact, if you're really worried
about the government knowing your location,
don't carry a mobile phone.
Your phone network know who you are
because you pay the bill, and where you are
by which cell towers your phone is connected to.
Your government could find out where you are from them.
(chiming tone)
It just so happens that the setting
to turn location on or off on Android
also turns Bluetooth scanning on and off.
Because Bluetooth scanning
needs to be on location it needs to be on.
But don't worry,
they've prevented public health authority apps
using the system from requesting access
to your device's location.
(chiming tone)
It requires Bluetooth 4 Low Energy technology
which is only available on newer phones hence the limits.
(chiming tone)
Because it's using low energy Bluetooth,
and only using it very briefly.
It uses considerably less power than other things
like wireless audio.
(chiming tone)
Through the app,
you're able to temporarily disable contact tracing.
If you do this, when your phone's in a locker,
for example, at the gym,
it'll stop thinking that you were near everyone
who was walking past your locker.
(chiming tone)
The amounts of support you get while isolating
and unable to work differs based on
where in the world you are.
In the UK, self isolating will be a legal requirement
from the 28th of September,
but people on low incomes can get 500 pounds,
if they're not able to work from home
and lose income as a result.
In the UK, your employer can also be fined
up to 10,000 pounds for not letting you self-isolate.
I hope that helps you understand how these new apps work
to keep you safe.
Contact tracing's another tool
to go along with the standard precautions,
we're all getting used to.
Keeping your distance from other people,
washing your hands regularly and thoroughly,
and wearing a face covering over your nose and mouth
when close to other people.
Thanks for watching.
Please let your friends and family
know about your region's app, and share this with them
if it helped you out.
I'm @MattGrayYes on Twitter, Instagram and all the socials
and hit subscribe, so you don't miss my next video.