Contact tracing apps: Worth the hype?

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 22 October 2020

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Why contact tracing technology has been slow to make an impact. Ed Butler speaks to Jenny Wanger from the Linux Foundation Public Health in the US where many states are only now rolling out contact tracing apps, months after many countries around the world. We hear from Colm Harte, technical director at NearForm, the company behind Ireland's app, which has been downloaded by about a quarter of the population. Chan Cheow Hoe, the chief digital technology officer for the Singapore government, talks about the success of digital contact tracing in his country. And the BBC's technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones explains why contact tracing apps are no longer being seen as the silver bullet in the fight against Covid-19.

(Photo: The National Health Service contact tracing app rolled out in England and Wales. Credit: Getty Images)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello there, I'm Ed Butler.
0:04.0	Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC.
0:06.2	Coming up, mobile phone apps to track and trace the pandemic.
0:10.7	Did they ever work?
0:12.1	Bluetooth contact tracing apps were thought of as a possible silver bullet,
0:16.9	which would sort out the spread of this virus.
0:20.3	And so far, nobody's proved that that is actually the case.
0:23.8	In today's program, we hear from some of the pioneers arguing that technology really can help rescue us from COVID-19.
0:30.7	I mean, 6% fewer deaths is a lot of lives saved.
0:34.4	And so we really are optimistic that this technology is going to help, you know,
0:38.0	prevent another lockdown and save lives. That's all to come in Business Daily from the BBC.
0:46.3	This is Bella. Farrell. Lily. Nicola. Jim. Caitlin. My son. It's my girlfriend.
0:51.3	A promotional advert in the UK selling the virtues of the new NHS COVID-19 app.
0:58.3	Everyone you love is on your phone.
1:00.8	Now, so is the app that helps protect them from coronavirus.
1:05.2	Protect your loved ones. Get the app.
1:08.8	This is one of dozens of contact tracing apps
1:11.7	that have been rolled out by governments
1:13.7	in an effort to control the spread of the coronavirus.
1:17.2	They let you know the risks of the disease where you live
1:19.9	and whether you've been in contact with someone who's infected.
1:23.1	But despite the millions that have been spent on developing these things,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.