People encouraged to download coronavirus symptom app

Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford has encouraged more people in Wales to download an app that records coronavirus symptoms.

COVID Symptom Study has been developed by King’s College London and nutritional healthcare company ZOE and is available to download on Apple and Android devices.

The app asks people to log their daily symptoms to help gather information on how the virus is affecting people.

It is not the same as the app being trialled by the UK Government on the Isle of Wight.

Last month the Welsh Health Minister Vaughan Gething downplayed the Government’s reliance on a tracking app as lockdown measures are gradually lifted.

Speaking at the Welsh Government’s daily press briefing on Monday, June 8, the First Minister confirmed around 70,000 people in Wales are already using COVID Symptom Study.

Mr Drakeford said: “I want to encourage people in Wales to use this App.

“We use it in the Welsh government because the data from the COVID-19 symptom tracker has helped us and the NHS to track outbreaks of coronavirus in Wales.

“In a couple of seconds you can load your symptoms and that really helps us to understand what is going on.

“Nearly four million people use this app, but we need more people to use it too because the more people who use it, the better the understanding we gain from it.”

Welsh Conservative shadow health minister, Angela Burns MS, supported the call for people to use the app, adding: “In such difficult times it is vital that we embrace the amazing technology that is available to help us learn more about this disease and find the best way forward in tackling it.”