Coronavirus: Tracking app aims for one million downloads

An app that tracks the symptoms of Covid-19 in the UK has become one of the most popular downloads.

Its creators aim to deliver insights into why some people get the disease more severely than others.

They also hope to create a map showing where outbreaks are happening and help distinguish cases from those of the common cold.

It is one of many such new apps. Experts have warned people to be cautious about which they download.

At present, Covid Symptom Tracker is the third most popular app in Apple's UK store and second in Google Play's new releases chart for the country.

Its developers are targeting one million downloads in 24 hours.

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The program has been shared thousands of times via WhatsApp and other social-media platforms.

Created in just three days by researchers at Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals and King's College London university, in conjunction with the nutrition advice start-up Zoe, it has already reached 750,000 downloads and, according to its developers, is being installed at a rate of 50,000 times an hour.