The Coronavirus contact tracing app is set be piloted on the Isle of Wight this week, despite continued concerns around its centralised setup.

The new app will alert users if they have been close to someone with the COVID-19 virus, with Health secretary Matt Hancock stating that the government is looking to recruit an “army” of human contact tracers to establish how and where the disease is spreading.

Users who experience symptoms will be asked to notify the app and will then be offered a test. Access to the app will initially be offered to NHS staff on the island, with members of the public receiving a letter on Thursday urging them to join the trial.

However, a report in the Health Service Journal on Monday quoted sources claiming the app was not fit for inclusion in the NHS’ app library, a it had not passed basic cyber security and user privacy tests. The government denied these accusations as “factually untrue”.

Criticisms have also been made of the decision to opt for a centralised system for the contact tracing, as opposed to doing it on mobile devices, like the alternative being worked on by Apple and Google.

Matthew Gould, chief executive of the NHSX, defended the decision to store data on NHS servers, telling parliament’s joint committee on human rights: “Even if the take-up rate is 20 per cent, that gives us important insights into how the virus is spreading - at 40 or 50 per cent it will make a big difference.”

The health secretary called the creation of a contact-tracing system a “huge national undertaking of unprecedented scale and complexity”, adding that he expected to have the system in place by the middle of this month.

Hancock had previously said 18,000 contact tracers might be needed – but this figure would be adjusted if a new survey showed the virus was more prevalent than previously thought.

The Office for National Statistics is currently carrying out research to create a clearer picture about how many people have contracted the virus.

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