It is absolutely incredible at first sight that Boris Johnson and his government are so dishonest. However, with Dominic Cummings pulling their strings and a manufactured 80 seat majority they appear to believe they can say and do anything they like. After all they probably have their plan for re election all sorted even now and it will not be about respecting democracy. When is it ever?
Today during PMQ’s another brazen lie regarding ‘functional contact tracing apps’. Apparently the UK is the only country with one.
This is true if truth now means ‘telling falsehoods’. Because when a little research is done we find that the following countries have ‘functional contact tracing apps’.
Germany
The Corona-Warn app was released on 16th June and has been downloaded more than 12 million times. Their app uses the Google/Apple technology that the UK has moved towards. German football teams even wore the logo of the app on their kit to encourage downloads.
France
Emmanuel Macron was one of the first countries in Europe to launch their app, with the StopCovid France app launching on 2nd June. However, only around 2% of the population has downloaded it.
Singapore
Singapore launched their Trace Together app in March. However, only 20% of the population downloaded it and they are now believed to be moving towards a wearable device for tracking that doesn’t need a smartphone.
South Korea
South Korea are among the countries who have been most successful in beating the virus and they do not have an app for the general population, preferring to use mobile phone data instead. However, people entering the country must download a tracing app.
Iceland
38% of the population have downloaded Iceland’s app, which relies on GPS rather than bluetooth.
Australia
6.1million people have downloaded the Covid-Safe app in Australia, around a quarter of the population. That app uses bluetooth to trace who a person has been in contact with.
Italy
Italy’s Immuni app works in a similar way to the majority of app, using bluetooth technology. They have had around 2.2million downloads.
It would also be useful for Mr Johnson’s argument if the Uk had a ‘functional contact tracing apps’ but as many Tory voters have pointed out ‘this is bollox too’.
The UK’s contact tracing app fiasco is a master class in mismanagement
What will tomorrow bring? Rhetorical question.
Douglas James
