Catalogue of errors led to Britain's contact-tracing app being shelved, insiders say

Testing of the app showed it detected just four per cent of iPhones it came into close contact with – rendering it useless

A catalogue of errors led to Britain’s contact tracing app failing and the £12 million project being abandoned, say insiders.

The app was ditched ten days ago after Ministers admitted they would need to collaborate with Apple and Google.

Testing of the app showed it detected just four per cent of iPhones it came into close contact with – rendering it useless.

The problems stemmed from the Government’s decision to avoid using an off-the-shelf software ‘platform’ now being used in Denmark and Japan, developers working on the project told the FT.

The decision meant NHS developers had to build a complex app from scratch.

When in May Health Secretary Matt Hancock indicated the app would shortly be rolled out nationwide, one developer, the FT reports, told a colleague: ‘What the ****? This is the first I’ve heard of it.’

A further 100 deaths from the virus were reported yesterday, taking the UK total death toll to 43,514.