Scots Covid app 'sent hundreds of notifications in error'
Hundreds of Scots were told to self-isolate in error due to a "blip" on the Protect Scotland contact tracing app.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said an update had led to the app being "overly sensitive" on Monday and Tuesday. She said the 900 people who received a notification from it between 0001 on Monday and 0830 on Tuesday should call the national contact tracing service. The first minister said this was a "one off blip" and that the app had now been fixed. She said anyone who received a notification at any other time should follow the app's advice and self-isolate. The Protect Scotland app - like other proximity tracing apps - uses Bluetooth technology to alert users if they have been in prolonged close contact with someone who has since tested positive for Covid-19. It has had more than 1.7m downloads, and has notified more than 20,000 people of the need to self-isolate. An update to the app was rolled out at midnight on Monday, and led to a sharp increase in the number of notifications sent out over the following 32 hours. Over that period, around 250 notifications would normally be sent out - but Ms Sturgeon said around 900 were, because the app was "configured in an overly sensitive way". The government said the error was in calculating how long people had been in proximity with someone who later tested positive, which was "much shorter than what we would usually want from the app". Ms Sturgeon said "the issue has been identified and fixed", but that anyone who got a notification from the app during that time should call the national contact tracing centre to check if they received it in error. She said the "app has been working really well at all other times", adding: "This was a one-off blip as a result of an upgrade to the app, and has now been fixed - if you received a notification at any other time then please follow the app's advice as normal and self-isolate."