England gives 500 pounds to people who self-isolate after Covid Trace app alert
England’s Covid testing and tracing system is making available to people who self-isolate after receiving notification through its app a support payment of 500 pounds ($665), he said Thursday.
Money was already available for people asked to self-isolate by contact tracers by phone, email or test message, but not previously through the app due to its anonymous nature.
Anyone who receives a self-isolation alert in the app can now register their details to receive payment, the service said.
Strong protection of user privacy was a key requirement defined by Apple and Google when they made the technology available to develop Covid-19 contact tracing applications.
Individual users are not required to enter any personal information when registering to use the app, which means notification requests automatically generated to self-isolate cannot be applied.
A user will remain anonymous after receiving a notification if they do not wish to claim the money, the service said.
The payment is designed to encourage people to stay home when they test positive for Covid-19, in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
(1 USD = 0.7523 pounds)