UK ditches virus tracing app for Google-Apple one

UK government has scrapped plans to launch its coronavirus contact tracing smartphone app because of technical problems and will w work on building one using techlogy supplied by Apple and Google, officials said on Thursday.

app had been undergoing trials on Isle of Wight, off sourn coast of England, with plans to roll it out to rest of country later, but programme went quiet in recent weeks.

Officials overseeing app's development said y couldn't overcome technical challenges found during field tests.

Even though it worked well on Android devices, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said government was abandoning prototype app and instead putting its efforts into developing one using a special interface jointly developed by Apple and Google, which itself had problems.

Authorities started developing a second app in parallel that uses Google-Apple interface, Hancock said at government's daily briefing.

He wasn't able to say when a new app would be ready.

Britain has highest coronavirus death toll in Europe, at over 42,000, and Conservative government has been sharply criticized for what many see as its slow, muddled response to fighting pandemic.