UK relaunches virus-tracking app after first effort failed

Shoppers walk along Oxford Street. The United Kingdom is restarting trials of its much-delayed coronavirus-tracing app. — AP

Boris Johnson’s UK government is restarting trials of its much-delayed coronavirus-tracing app, after a previous effort was abandoned, with a focus on privacy and helping people to track their own movements.

The app’s central function is to use the phone’s Bluetooth signal to record other app users who have been less than two meters away for more than 15 minutes. That will ultimately allow the system to notify people that they’ve been in contact with someone who tested positive for the virus even when they don’t know them – such as on public transport.