4. Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Winter Protection Plan

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:03 pm on 15 September 2020.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 5:03, 15 September 2020

Thank you to the Member for the questions. I'm happy to confirm that the NHS COVID app is now done on a local, not a central, basis. That was one of the concerns about privacy, so it should be largely resolved.

So, this is the second round of running an app. While Scotland and Northern Ireland have a proximity app that tells you how close you've been to other people, the app that England and Wales are going to launch and use together actually provides a bit more functionality than that. Actually, it made more sense, if the app worked in England, for us to have the same system, because of the transfers between England and Wales and the very porous border, so actually having a similar system has real practical advantages to it as well.

Interestingly, as well as a proximity app, it also has a diary function in it as well. So, if you have downloaded the app and you've been using it to check into places, you don't need to remember what you've done because there will be a function on your phone to allow you to do that. So, there are real advantages and we've encouraged businesses to download QR readers to make sure that people can check in and check out as they are going around into different venues and businesses.

It's particularly important that it's going to launch for 24 September—that's the plan—because we want to have this in place, ideally, before university students return. They're one of the key target groups who are likely to use and download the app, and somewhere where, actually, the challenges about people being mobile—. It will be much easier to do that, particularly when people are moving to a potentially new environment.

In terms of your question about this being an add-on, it is an add-on. So, contact tracing is still effective in Wales—highly effective. In 98 per cent of our index cases, people with a new COVID case get successfully contacted. Overall, since 21 June, 94 per cent of their close contacts have been contacted as well. So, a very high success rate, and all credit to our staff. So, it's an add-on to that, but it will be a useful add-on, and I would encourage people to download the app. We will be providing more information to Members and the public as we move into the phase of finally implementing this across England and Wales.