Experts claim that the app that caused England’s hated “pingdemic” is at risk of dying, as NHS data shows usage is now up to 180 times lower than before.
At the peak of its powers in summer, there were as many as 14.5million check-ins a week, the equivalent of around one in four people scanning a barcode once.
Yet latest figures reveal just 220,000 people used the QR-code software to sign in at pubs, restaurants and other venues in the week ending October 27, meaning usage has plummeted 60-fold nationally.
MailOnline analysis shows that the drop in NHS visits was even greater in certain parts of the country. Liverpool saw just 557 check ins in the final week, compared with around 100,000 in June. Also, Wandsworth and Manchester saw huge drops.
Scientists today urged ministers to either ‘junk’ the app or encourage people to use the app more, warning that it is only having a ‘at worst’ minimal impact on spreading the virus.
The software was part of the £37billion Test and Trace, which MPs labelled an ‘eye-watering’ waste of taxpayers’ money that ‘did not achieve’ its main objective of putting the lid on the spread of the virus. It played a major role in the country’s “pingdemic”, which prompted hundreds of thousands of workers in the country to quarantine at their homes, leaving behind empty shelves and trash piled high on the streets.
Professor Kevin McConway, a statistician at the Open University, argued it was likely even fewer people were using the app, which cost £35million to develop, than the figures suggested because the few still plugged in were likely using it to check-in to more than one venue a week.
He warned that the software could make it impossible to check into venues.
The graph below shows the number of NHS Covid app check-ins in England every week since June. The cumulative number is shown by the blue line. It shows that, while there was 14.5million check ins per week at its peak in July, this number has fallen to 220,000 per week.
The graph below shows the top ten areas that turned away the NHS Covid app. The top spot is Liverpool, where the Government tried a pilot project last year.
According to figures, the number of Covid tests that are linked to the app also fell. The app can alert others if a positive test is found. The graph below shows the number of results associated with the device.
Since July 19, when the majority of Covid restrictions were lifted in England, pubs, restaurants, hairdressers, and other businesses were not required to collect customer contact details, all businesses are exempted from the requirement.
The Government website states they are still strongly encouraged to do this, and should be ready for customers who ‘wish so’.
The NHS Covid app is voluntary. People in England seem to have ‘voted with the phones’ to discontinue using the cumbersome technology.
Dr Simon Clarke from Reading University is a microbiologist who stated that the app was not being used for its intended purpose and was at best minimally effective.
MailOnline was told by Javid that the Government should either throw it away or allow people to use it again. Sajid Javid did mention at his last press conference that 100,000 infections could be occurring per day. [Professor Jonathan]Van-Tam believes that there are still a few months to go.
“So either the Government thinks that the app isn’t as effective as it was made to be, or they should encourage people not to use it again.”
Dr Clarke stated that he had the app, but that he hasn’t used it for months. Clarke said that the app has not yet sent him an alert to self isolation, despite it being activated.
Professor McConway said that checking into venues was ‘perhaps not far away from being dead’.
But he added that its alert function still appeared to be working for those checking in when visiting pubs, bars and restaurants, telling MailOnline: ‘The app is still sending alerts out about venues — indeed it sent out more in the most recent week than it had in any previous week.
‘So even on that function of the app, it still seems to be sending out alerts that might be useful to the people who are still checking in — hard to tell.’
He also said that it was unlikely that more people were using the app that the figures suggested. He stated: ‘My guess would have been that there are some people that still check-in whenever they can, so they would checkin more than once a weeks, and many more who never do it.
Professor McConway claimed that he owns the app and bought a new phone to scan QR codes on posters. He said he hadn’t been asked to use it in months, adding: ‘Though they might well still be displaying the QR posters somewhere, they could be hidden in some dusty corner.’
NHS Test and Trace publishes weekly data on how many checkins have been made on their Covid app and breaks down these by local authorities. The latest data are up to October 27,
In Manchester use of the app has fallen from 170,000 at the peak in June, to just 951 in the latest week — which is 179 times lower. In Wandsworth, it is down from 136,000 to 876 — 156 times lower.
Rounding out the top five areas where app use has dropped the most are Rotherham, in South Yorkshire, where check-ins fell from 68,500 at the peak to just 450 now and Lincoln where scans using the app fell from 60,499 to 404 — both are the equivalent of a 150-fold drop in usage.
In England, the app usage has fallen by at least 95 percent in all 315 local authorities.
The area with the smallest drop was Peterborough, but even here the app’s use had dropped from 47,983 check-ins at the peak to 2,302 in the latest week — down 20 times.
It was followed by the Isles of Scilly, where scans have dipped from 944 in June to 32 in the latest week — down 30 times — and the Forest of Dean where they’ve dropped from 16,096 to 530 — also down 30 times.
The graph above shows how many times the app was downloaded in England and Wales. There are currently 28.6 million downloads. However, it is not clear how many people deleted or deactivated this app.
Another sign of declining usage of the device was the fact that less than 25% of positive Covid tests were actually linked with the app in the most recent week.
People are encouraged to enter their results into the app in order for it to send alerts anyone they may be close to in order to inform them that they have been infected.
But they are not legally obligated to do this — even at the height of the ‘pingdemic’ when many were forced into self-isolation by the app.
There were 69,274 positive tests entered into the app in the week to October 27, despite more than 260,000 Covid infections reported over the same period — equivalent to a quarter of infections being submitted.
However, almost half of all infections were reported to the app during July wave. There were 145,000 reports in the week ending July 21st, out of 300,000 cases that were spotted over the week.
The NHS app — heralded as a way to halt the spread of the virus — uses Bluetooth to estimate how close a user has been to a Covid positive patient and for how long.
This information allows it determine if someone is at risk and if they should self isolate.
Anyone who is alerted to the infection should stay away from others for up to ten working days, depending on how they came in contact with them.
Everyone considered to be at high risk receives self-isolation warnings, even if they have had both doses and a negative test.
In September, the NHS Covid app was introduced as a flagship device in an effort to prevent the spread.
It has been downloaded more than 28.6million times in England and Wales since — or by almost half of adults. It is not clear how many people have deleted or deactivated this device.
People began to scrub it off their phones in droves in July ahead of Freedom Day.
Ministers announced that the app would be made less sensitive so that it alerted only close contacts of people up to two days before they test positive. It had previously scanned through five days of users data in order to send out quarantine warnings.
People in England, however, have ‘voted with the phones’ and opted to ditch the app rather than be bound to its alerts.
A spokesperson for the UK Health Security Agency stated that the NHS Covid app had prevented thousands of cases. It is vital to protect against the spread and spread of Covid by alerting people when they have been in contact.
“The app is an integral part of the pandemic response. It helps to protect your loved one and reduce the spread of coronavirus. We encourage everyone to use it as an additional tool to keep us all safe.