NHS COVID-19 app retires as research highlights effect
The NHS COVID-19 app has been retired as tech consulting and engineering firm Zühlke has announced that the app averted at least 9,600 deaths (and potentially up to 13,000).
New academic research published in science journal Nature shows that the app, which was developed in a 12-week period, averted about 1 million COVID cases (potentially as high as 1.4 million) in its first year through its contact tracing function alone.
The research covers the year starting 24th September 2020 when the app was launched. During this period there were 95,485 COVID-related deaths and 6.5 million cases in England and Wales. This means the app reduced the number of deaths by around 9% and the number of cases by around 13% (using the research estimate of 9,600 deaths and 1 million cases averted).
This period covers the second and subsequent main waves and lockdowns, including: the second lockdown (from 5thNovember 2nd December 2020, followed by a period of stringent restrictions); and England’s third national lockdown (starting on 6th January 2021, with restrictions gradually lifted from 8th March until 18th July 2021).
Previous academic research, published in Nature in early 2021, showed that the app averted around 600,000 new cases in its first three months alone.
The team of researchers, led by Michelle Kendall, a researcher in statistics at the University of Warwick, in its paper concludes: “We estimate that the app’s contact tracing function alone averted about 1 million cases (sensitivity analysis 450,000–1,400,000) during its first year, corresponding to 44,000 hospital cases (SA 20,000–60,000) and 9,600 deaths (SA 4600–13,000).”
Wolfgang Emmerich, CEO of Zühlke UK, said: “Everyone involved is hugely proud of the number of lives saved, and also the million cases averted given the long-term suffering the disease causes many who contract it.
“The app was developed in just 12 weeks by a global team of 75 of our best people, including our product and design team, who ensured usability and uptake, architects who know how to design secure systems that can scale, and software engineers who developed and tested effectively to ensure its high quality.
“It quickly became the second-most downloaded free app of 2020 in the UK with over 30 million downloads and 20 million active users. Despite the short development period, the app achieved a number of technological innovations to protect privacy while ensuring the maximum accuracy and usability. It also achieved the innovation of achieving the ultra-rigorous official designation from the MHRA as a "medical device”.
“This places it at the vanguard of phone apps moving beyond fitness and wellness to also be used for medical-grade diagnosis and monitoring – a trend we expect to see developing strongly over the next few years.”
Other notable achievements for the NHS COVID-19 app and the team behind it include:
- The UK IT Industry Awards recognised the Zühlke: team behind the app as the 2021 Development Team of the Year.
- Even now it features as one of the most downloaded medical apps on the Apple iStore each month, with an extremely high user score of 4.6 based on more than 415,000 reviews.
- Initially for England and Wales, the app quickly became interoperable with the apps covering Scotland, Northern Ireland, Jersey, and Gibraltar.