Boris Johnson claimed in Parliament that no country has a ‘functioning test and trace app’. That depends on how you define ‘functioning’.
26 Jun 2020 | Facts and news from Full Fact
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** FACT CHECK
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** Does any country have a ‘functioning test and trace app’?
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The Prime Minister claimed in Parliament that no country has a ‘functioning test and trace app’. Apps have been launched in multiple countries, but they are not expected to be particularly effective without a significant proportion of the population downloading them.
France’s mobile app has reportedly been downloaded by 1.5 million people since it launched at the beginning of the month, but that would account for just 2% of the French population. Germany’s app - launched last week - has been downloaded only 12.2 million times.
Bluetooth technology is also currently being used in track and trace apps by countries including Australia, Poland, Latvia, Denmark, Japan and Italy. Iceland and Singapore have also rolled out apps with similar objectives.
So while it’s certainly true that some countries have launched track and trace apps, it may be too early to know whether these apps are having the intended effect of helping to contain the spread of the pandemic.
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** FACT CHECK
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** Coronavirus has probably killed more people than the Blitz ([link removed])
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A viral Facebook post shared thousands of times claimed that the death tolls from the coronavirus pandemic in the UK and the Blitz were equal.
Estimates of the number of people killed in the Blitz range from between 40,000 and 43,000 people, and the higher of these seems the more precise. The government’s official figure for the number of people who have died having tested positive for coronavirus in the UK was 42,647, when our fact check was published on June 24.
But the Covid-19 death count published by the government is likely to underestimate the total number of deaths related to the virus.
Alternative estimates looking at 'excess death' data put the figure at around 60,000 since the start of March. It’s worth bearing in mind that there is some complexity over how you attribute deaths wholly or partly to the coronavirus.
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** A ‘police bulletin’ warning people about chemical-soaked face masks is fake ([link removed])
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Various Facebook posts, purporting to be police bulletins, have warned the public that opportunistic scammers are going door-to-door handing out chemical-infused masks, in order to knock the wearer unconscious and rob them.
Full Fact cannot find any evidence of a UK police bulletin or other police warnings about this, and there are no reports in the media of this scam taking place.
Very similar versions of this post have been shared globally, with fact checkers in the USA, South Africa, Germany, Spain and Ireland finding it to be false.
The Metropolitan Police recommends that you check the ID of anyone knocking on your door claiming to be from a company, while Age UK recommends doing things like putting up a sign on your door or window to deter cold callers.
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This week, we take a look at the history of fact checking, as well as international comparisons of track and trace apps
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** Also this week...
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* This is what has happened with student nurses who volunteered to work for the NHS early ([link removed])
* Many French care workers will get a tax-free bonus of up to £1,340 for working during the pandemic ([link removed])
* Black Lives Matter Scotland say they did not produce “Kill a White On Sight” stickers ([link removed])
* Boris Johnson overstates number of schools with returning students ([link removed])
* And no, the government is not proposing to inject the public with tracking microchips ([link removed])
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