Health Minister Robin Swann has announced that the StopCOVID NI App will soon provide individualised recommended end dates for self-isolation.
The updated version of the App will be released before the end of November and will confirm the date when a user’s self-isolation period will end, it was announced on Thursday.
Welcoming the new development, the Health Minister said: “The balance has been between privacy and precision – we now have enough users of the app, and sufficient numbers of positive test results, to make this information available via the app, without compromising anonymity.
“Feedback though our app support line, indicates a public appetite for greater precision in the period of self-isolation, relating the advice to the date of their actual ‘close contact’ with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19.”
This will mean that, rather than isolating for 14 days from receiving the notification, those who are alerted will be given the date when their contact occurred and when their isolation period can end.
For example, if an alert relates to a contact with an infected person that took place 5 days ago, your end-date for isolation will be nine days from receiving the notification (14 days from when the contact occurred).
Quality assurance testing of the new version of the app, which incorporates features available through the API produced by Google and Apple, is presently underway.
Once testing is completed, and subject to successful conclusion of discussions with the Information Commissioners’ Office it is planned to release version 2.3 to the app stores later this month.
Meanwhile, pubs and restaurants in Northern Ireland could be closed for a further two weeks if Stormont follows advice set to be discussed today.
The BBC has reported this morning that the Department of Health has proposed extending the closure of the hospitality sector for a further two weeks.
