Secretary of state for transport Grant Shapps has said the NHS Covid contact tracing app might need to change as restrictions ease.

Shapps told BBC Breakfast that replacing the one-metre plus rule later this month could mean a review of the way the app needs to function is necessary.

But the transport secretary said that the app was still “very important as one of the tools in our armoury".

The track and trace platform enables anyone who has tested positive for Covid-19 to share their result anonymously. The system then alerts people who have recently been in close contact with that person.

Shapps said there are large numbers of people downloading the app and that he has seen no evidence people are deleting it.

In the last week of June, there were an additional 300,000 downloads of the app, bringing the total number of downloads to over 26 million. However, it is not known how many people are actively using the platform.

"It's in our interests as a society to carry on doing the things that protect each other," Mr Shapps said.

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