UK GOVERNMENT
“ In July 2020 , we set out the plan for NHS Test & Trace to take us through summer and into winter ,” says Jacqui . “ When the Test & Trace service began , we were still learning about the virus . We did not fully know how prevalent COVID-19 was , or the number of people who had the virus but did not display symptoms .
“ To help stop the virus , we stood up an integrated system at extraordinary speed so we could test at scale and trace the contacts of people who tested positive to advise them to self-isolate . We also created the Joint Biosecurity Centre which , with public health England , the Office for National Statistics and analysts from across government and academia , has deepened our understanding of the progress of the virus , allowing us to intervene early and with evidence .”
As with any effort of this scale , it was essential that the UK Government drew on both public and private sector expertise and experience to try to deliver an app that would meet the unprecedented needs of the pandemic response .
The NHS COVID-19 app was launched in September 2020 and is currently the second most downloaded exposure notification app in the world .
“ This was made possible by working in partnership with others ,” says Jacqui . “ We were striving to be ‘ teams of teams ’ made up of local authorities and Directors of Public Health , the NHS , Public Health England , public , private and not-for-profit sector partners and the devolved administrations [ the Scottish Government , Welsh Government , Northern Ireland Executive ]. It is thanks to them that as a country , we have made such unprecedented strides in developing our testing and contact tracing capacity and systems .”
36 September 2021