England changes COVID-19 app so fewer people need to isolate

FILE PHOTO: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) contact tracing smartphone app of Britain's National Health Service (NHS) is displayed on an iPhone in this illustration photograph taken in Keele, Britain, September 24, 2020. REUTERS/Carl Recine/Illustration/File Photo

LONDON (Reuters) -England's COVID-19 mobile phone app will be tweaked so that fewer contacts of asymptomatic people who test positive for the disease will need to self-isolate, Britain's health ministry said on Monday.

Business leaders have raised concerns about the numbers of staff who are having to self-isolate after being "pinged" by the app when they come into contact with someone who then tests positive for COVID-19.