Coronavirus: United Kingdom to trial New Zealand contact tracing app

Monday, 20 July 2020

Health Minister Chris Hipkins answers questions about the Covid-19 contact tracing app. Published July 20

The New Zealand-made contact tracing app, Rippl, is being trialled in the United Kingdom under a new name: StaySafe Diary.

Paperkite chief executive Antony Dixon said the trial, supported by UK technology and services provider Capita, would start on Monday.

Rippl launched in New Zealand on May 9, ahead of the country’s transition from Covid-19 alert level 3 to the much less restrictive level 2 on May 14. At level 2, various businesses were still required to maintain records for contact tracing.

The Government’s NZ COVID Tracer app wasn’t available until May 19. In the interim, Wellington and Dunedin city councils endorsed Rippl. Both apps allow people to keep track of their whereabouts by scanning QR codes, or digital barcodes, unique to businesses.

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Rippl’s privacy-first design has made it an appealing option overseas, says Paperkite’s chief executive Antony Dixon

Rippl automatically alerts users who scanned into a location around the same time as someone who later tested positive for Covid-19.

Dixon said Rippl’s “privacy-first” design made it appealing to Capita. It’s the only contact tracing app in New Zealand to have been awarded the Privacy Commissioner's Privacy Trust Mark – intended to give consumers confidence products or services respect and protect personal information.

So far, the UK has relied on manual contact tracing systems. It recently announced it was abandoning a contact tracing app it had been testing largely, in favour of one based on technology built by Apple and Google.

Unlike New Zealand, the UK at alert level 3 doesn’t have contact tracing requirements. Dixon said the goal is to “create enough noise” about the app, so the British government will opt to roll it out.

The trial is expected to last six weeks.

Meanwhile, experts in New Zealand have said it was a mistake for the Government to drop contact tracing requirements at level 1. The average user has scanned a NZ COVID Tracer QR code poster just twice since its launch.

At a briefing on Wednesday, Health Minister Chris Hipkins asked Kiwis to “step up [their] efforts”.

“We keep saying it, or keep saying it over and over, we can’t be complacent. And we do need to be prepared if new cases of Covid-19 were to emerge in our community.”

The Health Ministry didn’t respond to questions about future app updates.