The scientist behind the NHS Covid app is urging people not to delete it from phones – but is calling on the Government to axe the requirement to self-isolate after being pinged.
Professor Christophe Fraser has waded into the argument over whether the double-jabbed should have to shut themselves away for 10 days.
Writing for the Mirror, the chief scientific adviser for the app said: “A more useful approach [when] many people are vaccinated is… regular testing as an alternative to quarantine.”
He added that the public should not delete the app because it is reducing hospitalisations.
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Up to 10 million people may have been forced to quarantine in recent weeks.
From August 16, those who have had both jabs will no longer have to self-isolate after being pinged.
Ministers insisted Boris Johnson has no plans to bring forward the relaxation of isolation rules for the double-jabbed despite the pingdemic chaos.
Business chiefs have urged the Prime Minister to introduce the changes sooner to avert wider economic damage after shelves in some shops were stripped bare last week.
Meanwhile, the number of Met police officers off work has reached a record high with nearly one in five understood to be currently absent from duty.
Ministers will meet on Monday to discuss increasing the number of critical workers who can take daily tests instead of having to self-isolate.
The Government is understood to be pushing to double the number of sites across England to 2,000 so more key staff, such as lorry drivers, can be included.
Bin collections are expected to be added to the exemptions list.
Official figures on Sunday showed 29,173 new Covid cases and a further 28 deaths.
Infections have fallen over the past five days but scientists warn it is too early for the impact of Freedom Day on July 19 to be felt.
Thousands of people have taken advantage of the end of almost all Covid restrictions in England – packing out cafes, pubs and clubs. But more than one million people in Britain are isolating.
Of those, 618,903 were pinged by the app in England and Wales in the week to July 14. It uses a check-in feature when users enter a public venue and can detect when they have been near someone who later tested positive.
A study published last week by Oxford University found daily testing would be just as effective as self-isolation for school children who have been in contact with a Covid case.
Prof Fraser, a pathogen expert at the university, said the research suggests regular testing rather than quarantining would be effective.
YouGov polling last week showed one in five NHS Covid app users had turned off contact-tracing, and one in 10 had deleted it
altogether. But Prof Fraser said it is unwise to do that because of the extra infections it could lead to.
If hospitals get close to being overwhelmed by Covid patients it could lead to restrictions returning.
Home Office minister Kit Malthouse has suggested that exempting the double-jabbed from quarantine would not be brought forward from August 16.
He said: “We need to have the kind of natural firebreak of the start of the school holidays where people separate a little bit more
before we get to August 16.”
But Confederation of British Industry director general Tony Danker said the move is needed immediately.
He added: “The Government said they were reopening the economy but the pingdemic is effectively closing it down. We should have a balanced plan. If you have been single-vaccinated or not vaccinated then you have to do a test and release to go to work.”
Tory MP Jeremy Hunt last week warned the Government risks “losing social consent” for self-isolation if it does not immediately relax quarantine rules for the double-jabbed.
The Government has refused to publish data on app usage amid the pingdemic, with much of the economy hit by staff absences.
Pub chain Greene King said 33 boozers were shut in a week because so many staff have had to self-isolate.
