Hancock dismisses claims of ‘state surveillance’ through UK’s Covid-19 app

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"2">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock has dismissed warnings by civil liberties campaigners that a new coronavirus contact tracing app could open the door to widespread &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;state surveillance”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ministers are urging the public to sign up to the app – which is beginning trials on the Isle of Wight -as a way out of the current lockdown and re-starting the economy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But they have run into opposition from some Tory MPs and campaign groups concerned about the potential for the state to monitor individuals’ movements and contacts&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;--Ads1--><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Hancock however insisted it is &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;completely wrong” to say that the app represents a threat to civil liberties&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Instead&comma; he said it is a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;very&comma; very positive step” which will enable people to regain some of the freedoms they had lost as a result of the lockdown&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The row erupted as the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics showed another rise in the weekly number of registered deaths involving Covid-19 occurring in care homes in England and Wales&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The total for the week ending April 24 was 2&comma;794&comma; up from 2&comma;050 in the week ending April 17 – an increase of 36&percnt;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Over the same period the number of registered deaths involving coronavirus occurring in hospitals fell from 6&comma;107 to 4&comma;841 – a decrease of 21&percnt;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Hancock said the new NHS Covid-19 app is central to the British Government’s &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;test&comma; track and trace” strategy for controlling the spread of the disease while easing social distancing rules&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He said concerns about the app expressed by groups such as Amnesty International UK – which warned they are &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;opening the door to pervasive state surveillance” – are misplaced&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The purposes of this are purely and simply to control the spread of the virus&comma; which is really important&comma;” he told BBC Breakfast&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;--Ads2--><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We’ve all had to give up significant infringements on our liberty – for instance&comma; with the social distancing measures and the lockdown – and we want to release those&comma; and this approach will help us to release them&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The app uses Bluetooth to track and trace contacts between users – alerting people if someone they interacted with has displayed symptoms or tested positive for the virus&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Officials insist it is designed with privacy and security &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;front of mind”&comma; with the data stored on an individual’s phone until the point they contact the NHS to report symptoms and request a test&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; Amnesty International UK director Kate Allen said ministers need to explain why – unlike other European countries – Britain is establishing a central database to store information&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We remain concerned that the Government is using the coronavirus pandemic to normalise technologies that threaten our privacy rights&comma; and which the public would not accept in ordinary circumstances&comma;” she said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Far greater justification and clarity is needed as to why the UK Government is going against the privacy-preserving models of other European governments&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;--Ads3--><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We understand the importance of easing lockdown restrictions but contact tracing apps remain a big experiment and there is limited evidence to suggest these apps even work in slowing the spread of Covid-19&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ministers have said that if the pilot on the Isle of Wight – beginning on Tuesday with NHS and council staff – is successful&comma; the app could be rolled out across the country within weeks&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;154679" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-154679" style&equals;"width&colon; 600px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-154679" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;05&sol;C3FDDFC0-26C5-4A70-A8A4-E98F8ECB26E4&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"403" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-154679" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Sir Kier Stamer<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Mr Hancock said the more people who sign up to it&comma; the more effective it will be&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;What I can tell you is that if you download the app then you are doing your duty and you are helping to save lives&comma; and you’re helping to control the spread of the virus&comma;” he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he hopes the trial succeeds but warned that the Government needs other contact tracing measures in place as well&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I am a bit concerned that a similar app in Singapore only had&comma; I think&comma; something like a 20&percnt; take-up rate in the public&comma;” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;--Ads4--><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;So&comma; what I’m pushing the Government to say is you are going to have to have the traditional way of tracing as well&comma; which is doing it more manually – phoning people&comma; etc&comma; etc&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Because&comma; if you put all your eggs in the basket of this particular app – which I want to work as much as anybody else – it may a&rpar; it may not work&comma; or b&rpar; it may be that not enough people take it up&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68e2865abbead">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; function &lpar;&rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;if &lpar; false &equals;&equals;&equals; &lpar; window&period;isWatlV1 &quest;&quest; false &rpar; &rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&sol;&sol; Use Aditude scripts&period;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;tudeMappings &equals; window&period;tudeMappings &vert;&vert; 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