Coronavirus: UK contact-tracing app 'ready in two to three weeks'

Building a coronavirus contact-tracing app that might help the UK emerge from lockdown has been a titanic effort - and it has largely taken place in private.

But now the NHS chief responsible has told MPs he hopes the first version will be ready in a fortnight's time.

Matthew Gould also disclosed plans to log the location of whenever two or more people are in close proximity for minutes at a time.

That will disturb privacy campaigners.

However, NHSX - the health service's digital innovation unit - has told BBC News this extra request will be "opt in" rather than the default setting.

Mr Gould told the Science and Technology Committee the app would be "technically ready" for deployment in "two to three weeks" - but made it clear it was only one part of the strategy to emerge from lockdown and would involve a none-too-subtle marketing campaign.

"If you want to protect the NHS and stop it being overwhelmed and, at the same time, want to get the economy moving, then the app is going to be part of an essential part of a strategy for doing that," he said.

On Monday, BBC News revealed the NHS had opted not to use the Google-Apple system.

The technology giants want to help apps taking a "decentralised" approach to operate more effectively, with contact-matching happening locally on phones.

Instead, the UK's app, unlike many countries in Europe, will use a "centralised" model, with the process of linking those diagnosed with the virus with those they could have infected happening on a computer server.