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For more than two years, the NHS COVID App dictated the lives of those living in the UK – it told us which counties were safe to travel into, who people could spend Christmas with, and how close the public could get to their loved ones.

But now, on Thursday 27 April 2023 it is being switched off for the final time.

No more “getting pinged“, or needing a bar code to enter a restaurant. The app is estimated to have saved thousands of lives and stopped millions of infections but now the fight against the virus enters a new phase and it is no longer needed.

Germany’s health minister has already declared the pandemic over, while the US president has signed a bill terminating the country’s national emergency response to the virus.

But while some may hail it as another step on the road to the end of the pandemic, for half a million clinically vulnerable people in the UK, COVID can still be life-threatening.

From tennis prodigy to long COVID sufferer

Three years ago, Tanysha Dissanayake was a tennis prodigy who played alongside Emma Radacanu in junior Wimbledon.

Then the COVID virus forced her into early retirement, and out of education: “It was stripped away from me overnight,” she said.

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Long Covid: ‘I’m grieving my life’

At one point, her heart rate reached 150bpm when just walking up the stairs.

“I have come a long way since a year ago. A year ago I couldn’t even open my eyes to watch Netflix,” Tanysha said.

“But in terms of my life, and my full recovery, I am still so far away from where I need to be.”

The virus has left her unable to study, read and socialise and grieving the loss of her former, very active, life.

“I can’t walk more than 2m, I need my little brother to push me around in a wheelchair,” she said.

“That was not a life I was ever prepared for. I was 19 and healthy.”

How the NHS COVID app came to dominate British life

The app was touted as an integral part of the UK’s Test and Trace but experienced a series of setbacks prior to its launch.

Development began in March 2020, but after an initial trial run on the Isle of Wight in May 2020, the first version of the app was abandoned due to technical failings.

The government announced it would work with Apple and Google to develop a new version of the app. This was finally launched to the wider public in September 2020 and was downloaded more than 21 million times, with 1.7 million users advised to self-isolate following close contact with someone with COVID.

At the height of the “pinging”, businesses complained it was causing severe staff shortages and unnecessary chaos, but expert analysis found the app to largely be effective in telling people to self-isolate. It was eventually tweaked to ‘”ping” fewer people.

It soon became integral to British pandemic life – it was needed to board flights, enter bars and restaurants, and store essential COVID vaccine information.

The cost of the app was estimated to top £35 million.

‘I feel forgotten – people have moved on without me’

She is now worried about the disappearance of the official NHS COVID app and what it means for her to be able to interact in public.

“It scares me so much,” she said, adding that she is terrified to catch the virus again, fearing it could set back her recovery by another year.

“I can understand needs and wants to move on from COVID, because it was a traumatic thing for everyone, but people are forgetting about it, and it’s being labelled as something that’s not dangerous at all,” she said.

Now 21, she said she feels she is “stuck as a 19 year old”.

It takes her up to a week to prepare to leave the house.

Tanysha added: “My life has been on hold for two years and people have moved on without me and I am still here.”

A person's NHS COVID domestic Pass is displayed on a smartphone screen within the NHS App, as new restrictions will come into force to slow the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus from tomorrow. Picture date: Tuesday December 14, 2021.
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Digital COVID passes were used to enter bars, restaurants and board planes

‘I thought the app had already closed down’

Although hospital levels are not the same as they were during the peak of the pandemic, for patient Nicola Macarty, any new infection could kill her.

The 59-year-old got COVID for the second time last week and collapsed in the shower, unable to breathe.

“People are still very ill with COVID,” she said, speaking from her hospital bed.

But she was unaware the app had still been operating until this point.

Nicola Macarty is currently in hospital with COVID
Image:
Nicola Macarty is currently in hospital with COVID

“I honestly thought the app had gone years ago,” she said. “I didn’t realise the app was still there.”

But for Imogen Dempsey, who is clinically ill, the end of the app feels like an effort to ignore the realities of the new phase of the pandemic.

“Everybody is tired and fed up and could do without having to talk about COVID anymore,” she said.

“[But] for people like me, the fact that we still need to think about being so careful and our lives are still so much on hold, absolutely we’d like things to be different – but they’re not.

“COVID hasn’t gone away, and stopping recording it and trying to ignore it isn’t actually a public health strategy.”

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How the app was tweaked to ping fewer people

COVID wards still operating

Frimley Health still operates specific COVID wards, first introduced in 2020 in a bid to stop patients from spreading the infection around the hospital.

John Seymour, deputy medical director at Frimley Health, said: “Living with COVID is an acceptance it is here, it will always be here.

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“But we have a responsibility to continue providing healthcare.”

He said people will “always come in with COVID, or problems related to COVID”.

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Over 200 MPs sign cross-party letter demanding Starmer recognise Palestine as a state

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Over 200 MPs sign cross-party letter demanding Starmer recognise Palestine as a state

Sir Keir Starmer is under increasing pressure to recognise a Palestinian state, with 221 MPs signing a cross-party letter demanding he take the step.

The letter is being organised by the Labour backbencher Sarah Champion, who also sits as the International Development Committee chair.

They write: “British recognition of Palestine would be particularly powerful given its role as the author of the Balfour Declaration and the former Mandatory Power in Palestine.

“Since 1980 we have backed a two-state solution. Such a recognition would give that position substance as well as living up to a historic responsibility we have to the people under that Mandate.”

Explainer: What does recognising a Palestinian state mean?

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‘Many more deaths unless Israelis allow food in’

Earlier this month, nearly 60 Labour MPs called on David Lammy and the Foreign Office to immediately recognise Palestine as a state in a private letter, but this new call shows how dissatisfied many still are with the government’s refusal to change its stance on the issue.

More on Gaza

As Number 10 came under growing pressure, Sir Keir on Friday released a statement on Gaza calling the “appalling scenes” in the Strip “unrelenting”.

Israel has denied there is a food shortage in Gaza – despite earlier this week more than 100 aid agencies warning of mass starvation in Gaza – and claims it had to take control of the supply and distribution of aid because Hamas fighters have been stealing aid before it reached civilians. Hamas has denied this, as have some humanitarian groups, including USAID.

Talking about the need for a regional “lasting peace”, the prime minister said: “Recognition of a Palestinian state has to be one of those steps. I am unequivocal about that. But it must be part of a wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution and lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis.”

Read more:
British surgeon claims IDF shooting Gazans in specific areas
France to become first G7 nation to recognise Palestine as a state
Dozens of MPs call for UK to recognise Palestine as a state

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Trump: ‘It doesn’t matter what Macron says’

In light of a tweet by the French President Emmanuel Macron, also sent last night, declaring France would recognise a Palestinian state in September at a UN conference, a number of MPs now say Number 10’s current position is untenable.

“They had said they wanted to be in lockstep with allies, but this means that position won’t hold,” said one Labour MP.

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Emily Thornberry says it’s ‘insulting’ that the Israeli govt rejected a statement calling for a ceasefire

US President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House before heading to Scotland, was dismissive of Mr Macron’s statement. “What he says doesn’t matter,” he said. “He’s a very good guy. I like him, but that statement doesn’t carry weight.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “We strongly condemn President Macron’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state next to Tel Aviv in the wake of the October 7 massacre. Such a move rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became.

“A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel – not to live in peace beside it.

Peter Kyle, the technology secretary, on Friday morning defended the government’s resistance to calls for immediate UK recognition of a Palestinian state.

“We want Palestinian statehood. We desire it, and we want to make sure the circumstances can exist where that kind of long-term political solution can have the space to evolve and make sure that it can become a permanent circumstance that can bring peace to the entire region,” he told Sky News.

“But right now, today, we’ve got to focus on what will ease the suffering, and it is extreme, unwarranted suffering in Gaza that has to be the priority for us today.”

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Aid waiting to be distributed in Gaza

An emergency call with Germany and France was scheduled for Friday to discuss what Sir Keir described as a “human catastrophe” which has “reached new depths”.

The Foreign Office has maintained it is committed to recognising a Palestinian state but has expressed a willingness to do so only when it will have the “most impact in support of a peace process”.

It said: “We continue to provide lifesaving aid to support Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, and to work closely in support of the Palestinian Authority.”

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Home Office threaten asylum seekers with homelessness if they refuse hotel move

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Home Office threaten asylum seekers with homelessness if they refuse hotel move

Asylum seekers risk becoming homeless if they refuse accommodation under plans to end the use of expensive hotels.

Announcing the policy on Friday, the Home Office said some migrants were “gaming the system” by resisting efforts to move them into alternative housing without a valid reason.

Politics Live: Macron lays out plan for France to recognise a Palestinian state.

The new Failure to Travel policy means housing support will be removed from those who block transfer requests.

The Home Office said this will “ensure individuals who are moved from hotels to suitable alternative accommodation must take it”.

They added: “Those who refuse to move without a valid reason will now risk losing their housing and support. It is a firm but fair approach, aimed to end abuse of asylum support and contribute towards the closure of costly hotel accommodation.

“While the government has a duty to support all asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute in appropriate accommodation, the new policy establishes clear consequences for those who game the system whilst protecting the vulnerable.”

More from Politics

There would be several steps before stripping someone of accommodation – with it being a last resort, Sky News understands.

It follows a week of unrest outside a hotel in Epping used to house asylum seekers.

Several demonstrations have been held outside the Bell Hotel since 13 July, after an asylum seeker was charged with allegedly attempting to kiss a 14-year-old girl.

Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, from Ethiopia, denied sexually assaulting the 14-year-old girl at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court last week and will stand trial in August.

On Thursday Epping council unanimously voted to urge the government to shut the site.

Ministers are under pressure to restore order amid fears of further unrest, like that seen in Southport last summer.

Protesters near the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex. There have been a number of demonstrations outside the hotel, believed to be housing asylum
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Protesters near the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex.

Labour has pledged to end the use of asylum hotels by the end of this parliament, a move chancellor Rachel Reeves has claimed will save £1bn a year.

However there is a question mark as to how this will be achieved as Channel Crossings continue to rise. Nearly 20,000 migrants made the journey to the UK in the first six months of this year, a rise of almost 50% on the number crossing in 2024 and a new record for the first half of a year.

Ministers say they inherited a “broken system”, with 400 hotels being used to accommodate asylum seekers at the peak of the crisis under the Tories, costing £9 million per day.

Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Dame Angela Eagle, said: “We inherited an asylum system on the brink of collapse – mismanaged, under strain, and costing the public a fortune. We are getting a grip.

“We are working to close hotels, restore order, and put fairness and value for money at the heart of our asylum system. This government is making those necessary decisions to protect the taxpayer and uphold the integrity of our borders.

“These reforms to the Failure to Travel policy are another example of this government’s action to transform the asylum accommodation system and crack down on those who abuse our system, so it operates fairly and saves the taxpayer money.”

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Sarina Wiegman on the Euros final, the Lionesses as campaigners, and their late comebacks

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Sarina Wiegman on the Euros final, the Lionesses as campaigners, and their late comebacks

England manager Sarina Wiegman has praised the Lionesses for using their platform, reaching a third successive final to advocate for “positive change in society” while focused on defending their Euros title.

In an interview with Sky News, she spoke about how, if the “incredible support” throughout the tournament in Switzerland is matched by an incredible performance, that can “bring us the win” against Spain on Sunday.

But while progressing, the team has called out social media abuse after defender Jess Carter faced racism online.

Players used winning their first trophy in 2022 as a springboard to lobby the government to advocate for more access to football for girls.

England head coach Sarina Wiegman speaks to her players during the Women's Euro 2025 semifinals between England and Italy. Pic: AP
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Pic: AP

“I think that’s the high purpose of women’s football,” Weigman told Sky News when asked about players as campaigners while achieving sporting excellence.

“Of course it’s England and we want to win, but there’s a bigger picture too, and of course we saw that last week that we said this is enough [on racism].

“We’re just leading that, and everyone’s supporting. We need to send a message out because it’s unacceptable and disgusting.

“And that shows also that the identity of the women’s game, that yes we want to improve and we want to get the results, but that gives us a platform to hopefully make a little change, positive change in society, and that’s what we go for too.”

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England through to Euros final: How it happened

Comebacks

It has been a challenging tournament on the pitch defending their European crown. The opening match was lost to France before emphatic wins against the Netherlands and Wales took them into the knockout phase.

They were facing elimination against Sweden before coming back from 2-0 down to 2-2 before winning on penalties.

And they came even closer to being knocked out in the semi-final by Italy until Michelle Agyemang equalised in the 96th minute and Chloe Kelly struck the winner in extra time.

Asked about the impact of the drama on the England manager, attacking midfielder Ella Toone joked: “We’ve almost killed her twice this tournament.”

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‘I think we’ve nearly killed her twice’

So how does Wiegman cope with the frenzied finishes?

“I’m never angry at the players because I know they give their best and they do everything to make it work,” she said in our interview at the team’s Zurich hotel.

“I’m just really proud of them. How we show up, how we step up when necessary and I just hope that we do a little bit earlier now.

“But first, the most important thing is that we play at our best because that makes the chance of winning as high as possible and we want that best outcome of course.”

The outcome in 2023 was losing the World Cup final to Spain, and Sunday’s game in Basel is a rematch.

“Spain is a very good country, they play very good football, but I think we’re really good too, so we have our tactical plan ready,” Wiegman said.

“We have to be at our best. Then if we are at our best we can win and the urgency is there to be our best to make that possible.”

Read more:
FA could boycott social media over racism
When is the Women’s Euro 2025 final?
Why is Lucy Bronze the Lionesses’ golden girl?

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Lionesses reach Euro semi-finals

Five finals

The double European champion has unprecedented managerial experience at her five international tournaments – only reaching the finals with the Netherlands and England.

“It’s very special because playing a final is very special,” Wiegman said. “There are many teams in the competition and there is only a spot for two countries to play a final and it’s very, very hard to get through to the final.

“So I feel grateful and I’m really, really excited to play another final with England. And yes, I’ve noticed a couple of things, what it does with the country.

“Of course, I already did that after the Euros, but also after the World Cup. So I’m excited about that too, of course.”

Sarina Wiegman sits on the bench during the Women's Euro 2025 quarterfinals soccer match between Sweden and England. Pic: AP
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Pic: AP

Super-subs

She can feel vindicated by the results, however much the clamour is to make substitutions earlier.

“I don’t feel that resistance, I don’t feel that because I’m in the game and we have our bubble,” she said.

“And the only thing I’m focusing on is my bubble, everything outside I’m not focusing on and don’t pay attention to.

“Of course there’s pressure, of course when you’re down or 2-0 down or 1-0 then there’s pressure because you need to score a goal and then you make your subs and it’s incredible that the subs make a difference.”

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Lionesses leave it late – again

With the team often rescued by super-subs Kelly and Agyemang, who is playing her first tournament at 19.

“She brings something different with her qualities and it’s really nice that she shows that too,” Wiegman said.

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All we learnt from the Jay Slater inquest

Support

England have never won a trophy on foreign soil before – with the men and women only collecting trophies at Wembley.

Thousands of fans are expected in Basel and millions watching back home.

“I’d really like to thank everyone with the incredible support we’ve had here in Switzerland,” Wiegman said.

“England is totally overloaded with the fans, there’s so many here and we know there’s so many watching from home and supporting us.

“That feels incredible and we’re very very thankful for that and I hope we can put an incredible performance on the pitch again on Sunday and I hope that will bring us the win.”

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