Health Minister urges people who are ‘pinged’ by app to self-isolate

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Wales’ Health Minister has urged people who are ‘pinged’ by the NHS Covid-19 app to self-isolate.

Last week, more than 600,000 people across Wales and England received a notification from the mobile app telling them to self-isolate because they had come into contact with someone who has since tested positive for coronavirus.

In a statement, Health Minister Eluned Morgan said the number of people asked to isolate by the app was increasing in Wales, but said “at the present time, case rates and contacts [in Wales] are not at the same levels seen elsewhere in the UK”.

However, it is not a legal requirement to self-isolate if asked to do so by the app, due to the fact the app is anonymous.

But Mrs Morgan said the app is an “important supplementary tool” to the Test, Trace, Protect service.

If asked to self-isolate by contact tracers, it is a legal requirement to do so.

“The increase in notifications to contacts advising them to self-isolate illustrates that the NHS Covid 19 App is working effectively and doing what it is designed to do,” Mrs Morgan said in her statement.

She reiterated that changes to the self-isolation rules could change after the next three-week Welsh Government review, which will take place in August.

The Welsh Government is aiming to remove the requirement for people who have received both coronavirus vaccine doses to self-isolate if they come in contact with someone who tests positive for the virus.

Mrs Morgan said the NHS Covid-19 app will align with the changes in self-isolation rules in Wales.

She added: “Until any changes are introduced it is essential that anyone asked to self-isolate does so.

“I am aware that in the next few weeks there is the potential for critical services, such as the NHS and social care, to face additional pressures as a result of the number of contacts self-isolating increasing.”

She said the Welsh Government is “working closely” with health and social care bodies to agree exemptions from these rule changes, such as for those working in direct patient and client facing and caring roles.