AS the number of people told to isolate through the NHS Test and Trace app rise we want to know - are you still using it?

Record numbers of people are getting 'pinged' and told to self isolate until they test negative ahead of what is being called "Freedom Day". 

Monday will see the lifting of most coronavirus restrictions in England with face covering, social distancing and limits on how many people can meet up being scrapped.

It comes after more than half a million users in England and Wales received an alert in the seven days to July 7, the highest seven-day total since data was first published in January.

The rise in cases has seen school bubbles and businesses in Worcester forced to close or partially close as contact tracing means they have to self isolate.

However, there are some calls for the guidance around the NHS Track and Trace app to be changed.

Sir Jonathan Montgomery, professor of healthcare law at University College London, said that being “pinged” by the NHS app should be a tool used to “help us manage the risk” rather than always being required to self-isolate.

“We need to focus on how much risk actually you might be of having been infected, so your vaccination status is key to that, and then we need to look at your ability to spot whether you have been infected as quickly as possible,” he told LBC.

“The bit you haven’t heard about,  which I also think we need to think through, it’s going to make a big difference where you are going when you have been pinged.

“If I have been pinged and I’m pretty sure that I wasn’t infected and I’m taking lateral flow tests, I’m still not going to go and see an elderly relative who is vulnerable or someone who is having cancer care, because I just don’t want to take that risk.

“But I would like to be able to go to work where I can take other precautions, I can be masked, I can wash my hands, because that’s managing the risk, and I think that’s the key thing.

“The ping should help us manage the risk and think about it – it shouldn’t become a yes or no thing, you are either locked up in home or you are out and about.”

READ MORE: Worcester pub Farriers Arms forced to close after Covid outbreak

READ MORE: Year six pupils miss end of school as covid bubbles burst

The Government recognises the “significant impact” that the NHS Covid-19 app is having on businesses, said the Solicitor General.

Lucy Frazer said as well as relaxing self-isolation rules on August 16 for the fully vaccinated, there are pilots being undertaken which could allow people to start a testing regime rather than self-isolate.

“It (the app) is an important tool because it is important that you do isolate if you do come into contact (with a positive case), but I know this is something the Government is looking at,” she told Sky News.

“In addition to the changes in mid-August, the Government is also carrying out a number of pilots to see whether instead of isolating when you get pinged, you could take a test.

“The Government is looking at this very carefully, recognising the significant impact this is having on businesses.”

Sir Jonathan Montgomery, former chair of the ethics advisory board for the NHS Test and Trace app, said he would not change the function of being “pinged” by the app but rather what is required afterwards.

The professor of healthcare law at University College London told LBC: “We need to think about the consequences of being pinged.

“When the app was designed, we didn’t have the ability for reliable home test, we didn’t have very many people jabbed, and the big worrying thing about this virus is that you can pass it on before you know you have it.

“So, I wouldn’t be changing the pinging but I would be changing the consequences of being pinged.”