In another major U-turn by Boris Johnson’s government, the NHS Covid-19 contact-tracing app was abandoned. Instead, focus will turn to technology from Apple and Google, after the trial on the Isle of Wight revealed the app was highly inaccurate when used on iPhones. The latest test and trace figures suggested a significant reduction in social distancing in early June. The DHSC figures revealed 4,366 infected people passed on details of 44,895 contacts, suggesting that between 4 June and 10 June infected people were each in contact with 10.28 other people on average, up from 5.88 for the week prior. The first minister of Northern Ireland Arlene Foster announced an easing of lockdown restrictions, including abandoning the 2 metre rule for schools. Schools there are set to reopen on 24 August with a 1 metre social distancing measure in place. The move increases pressure on Boris Johnson as many of his MPs have been urging him to do the same for England for some time now. Dominic Raab was criticised for “insulting” the Black Lives Matter movement when he said taking the knee felt like “a symbol of subjugation or subordination” and that he thought the idea came from Game of Thrones. In case you missed it, here’s the video. Face coverings will be compulsory on public transport in Scotland from Monday. Nicola Sturgeon announced further lockdown-easing measures including shops, churches and dental surgeries to reopen over the next two weeks, and an ‘extended household’ scheme for single adult households. The UK death toll rose by 135 to 42,288. That’s it from us on the UK side. If you’d like to continue following the Guardian’s coronavirus coverage, head over to the global live blog for the worldwide picture. Matt Hancock"s press conference - Summary Here are the main points from Matt Hancock’s press conference. Hancock, the health secretary, confirmed that the government has abandoned the contact tracing app it was trialling on the Isle of Wight - a system that was at one point described as being a core feature of the system that would enable coronavirus to be kept under control. Explaining why, he said: We found that our app works well on Android devices but Apple software prevents iPhones being used effectively for contact tracing unless you are using Apple’s own technology ... As it stands, our app won’t work because Apple won’t change their system, but it can measure distance. But Hancock claimed the rival Google-Apple approach was also flawed. He said it could not “measure distance well enough to a standard that we are satisfied with.” He said: This is a global challenge. What we have done in really rigorously testing both our own Covid-19 app and the Google-Apple version is demonstrating that none of them are working sufficiently well enough to actually be reliable to determine whether any of us should self-isolate for two weeks. Leo Kelion, a technology editor at the BBC, says this claim was surprising because other countries are using the Google-Apple model. Hancock rejected claims that the government had stuck with its own version for too long, ignoring the alternative Google-Apple approach favoured by many experts. He said the UK government had deliberately decided to trial both versions. He said: I’m from Newmarket, we back both horses. We took the decision in May to start building the Google-Apple version as well and then because we built both we could test both. And actually the best way to get new technology going is to test different approaches. Hancock was accused of being misleading because for many weeks the government denied considering any alternative to its own app. (See 5.58pm.) This is from the Times’s technology correspondent Tom Knowles. Hancock said the government was now developing a hybrid app that would include the best features from its own one and from the Google-Apple version. He said: Far better to go with both versions and now we’ve got problems with both versions but there’s parts of each that can come together to build something that’s stronger than either version. And Dido Harding, head of NHS Test and Trace, said: The reality is if we had not backed both horses we wouldn’t have a way forward. Precisely because we’ve developed our own and developed some really sophisticated distance calculations we think that we can enhance the Google-Apple platform such that it will work. Hancock was unable to say when the new app would be ready for a nationwide rollout. He said that, because people would be advised to self-isolate by the app, he had to be confident that it was working properly before he could sanction it. Harding said she wanted to see more people being tested for coronavirus because the large number of asymptomatic cases made the disease hard to detect. She said: We have to get better at hunting out the virus. Seventy per cent of people or so who have the virus won’t show any symptoms, or they will have such mild symptoms they might not spot it. That’s why we are doing targeted testing for people in high-contact professions, such as health and social care, but also other roles where we are looking to expand that. Hancock confirmed that the government was reviewing the 2-metre rule but was unable to confirm that it would be abandoned for schools, as is happening in Northern Ireland. (See 4.47pm.) Asked if England would follow Northern Ireland, he replied: We are working on what is needed to get schools open in September, to get all schools open in September. And there is a review into the current 2-metre rule. But the 2-metre rule is in itself a social distancing measure. Removing it has an impact in terms of the transmission of the disease, so we have to make sure in that review that we have the space and the virus is under control enough to be able to make the change and replace the 2-metre rule. He said that frontline health and social care workers and those at increased risk from coronavirus, including the over-50s and those with heart and kidney disease, would get priority if a vaccine became available. He went on: As we learn more about the virus we will continue to take into account which groups may be particularly vulnerable, including, for example, those from ethnic minority backgrounds, so that we can protect the most at risk first, should a vaccine become available. The number of prisoners who have tested positive for Covid-19 flatlined in the most recent data released by the Ministry of Justice. As at 5pm on Wednesday, 503 prisoners were confirmed to have had the virus across 81 prisons, no change in 24 hours, while the number of infected staff rose by two or 0.2% to 980 across 105 prisons. There are around 79,700 prisoners across 117 prisons in England and Wales, and around 33,000 staff working in public sector prisons. At least 23 prisoners and nine staff are known to have died, as well as one prison escort driver and one NHS trust employee working in a secure training centre. Leadership is broken. From the coronavirus pandemic and police brutality to the marginalisation of minority communities around the world, our leaders are failing us. Self-serving and divisive, they are gambling with public health and the future of younger generations. We have to make them raise their game. This is what the Guardian is for. As an open, independent news organisation we investigate, interrogate and expose the incompetence and indifference of those in power. Your support helps us produce quality, trustworthy, fact-checked journalism every day - and publish it free so everyone can read. Support the Guardian from as little as $1 – and it only takes a minute. Thank you. At the press conference Matt Hancock insisted that the government had been intentionally trialling the Google-Apple contact tracing app model, alongside its own. He said backing both horses was a good decision, because the government was now working on a system that incorporated the benefits of both. But the Daily Mirror’s Dan Bloom says the government used to deny testing an alternative app. UPDATE: Bloom has posted more on this. Q: How will local leaders be able to implement local lockdowns? Hancock claims the system is already up and running. He chaired a meeting of the local action committee this morning. He says councils have powers, and he has powers, from the Coronavirus Act. And government can asks councils to do something if they spot a problem. Harding says she thinks the way to address this is through local leaders acting together. Q: But mayors and council leaders feel they do not have these powers, despite what you are saying. Hancock says the government deals with directors of public health. He claims the government is getting better and better engagement with local authorities. That’s it. The press conference is over. Q: What will you do to ensure that people with disabilities aren’t forgotten? Hancock claims 80% of schools were kept open for those with special needs. And he says support from local authorities is incredibly important too. Q: Schools in Northern Ireland are abandoning the 2-metre rule. Why can’t we do that in England? Hancock says the 2-metre rule is being reviewed. But the government has to be sure it is safe to replace it. He says the DfE is working hard on getting pupils back to schools. Q: When will we be able to visit our parents and stay overnight? Hancock says they are looking at this. He wants people to be able to stay overnight so they can have a holiday. They are working on this. Hancock rejects claim government stuck with its own failing app for too long, ignoring alternative Q: There were problems with this app some time ago. Has it taken us too long to drop this app because we were fixated on being “world-beating”? No, says Hancock. He says he is from Newmarket. He is used to backing both horses. Harding says backing both apps has been helpful. As a result they have developed new distance technology that will enhance the Apple/Google version. Q: Isn’t an app vital to get back to normality? If people are on buses and trains, they won’t be able to name people they have been in contact with. Hancock says what is vital is to get the numbers down. He says the Isle of Wight pilot showed that human contact with people being asked to self-isolate was vital. Harding says an app would be a “hugely helpful addition” for people to travel to work. But there are other things people can do too, like hand washing, she says. Q: But if we don’t get the app until the autumn, can we get back to normal life before then? Hancock says human contact is at the core of the test and trace system. He rejects the implication of the question. He says he will not advise people to download the app unless he is confident that is the right thing to do. He will not put out the app if there are problems with it. He would rather get it right, he says. Hancock says last week there were slightly fewer people dying than in a normal week at this time of year. Or it was statistically equivalent, he says. Harding says the test-and-trace service is very large by global standards now. And it will get better and better. Q: There could be around 10,000 symptomatic people a week. But test and trace is picking up only a fraction of those. So how can it contain any outbreaks? Harding says people have to learn that, if they get symptoms, they must stay at home and order a test. And she says they also have to get better at hunting out the virus. Some 70% of people with the virus won’t have symptoms, or will have such mild symptoms they do not notice. So she says she wants to see more people being tested. She says she is one of the few people in government wanting to see positive test numbers go up. Q: [From the BBC’s Hugh Pym] When will the app be involved in contact tracing? Hancock says they are working on this. But he cannot put a date on it. Asking people to isolate for two weeks is a good thing. But he would not advise people to do that unless he were confident in the technology. Q: What is going to happen to people in the shielding group? Will the advice to stay at home end from July? Hancock says he knows this advice has been hard. They will be announcing the next steps “very, very soon”. But it is important to do this properly. There will be a a government publication. And everyone in this group will get an individualised letter, he says. The Welsh government will allow all non-essential retail businesses in Wales to reopen from Monday, the PA news agency understands. More on this as we get it. Stuart from Birmingham asks if the government will legislate to make it easier for people to continue working from home if they want. Hancock says working from home is currently recommended. He says this is something “that will stay with us a long time after the crisis”. Those Zoom calls will continue, he says. He says he is willing to talk to the business department to see if laws need to change to enable this. Luke from Cardiff asks what the government will do to ensure that there won’t be local outbreaks of the virus when students return to university. Hancock says the government is doing as much as it can to ensure a safe restart for schools. The DfE is working very hard on this, he says. Dido Harding, head of NHS Test and Trace, is summarising the figures published today. (See 12.34pm.) She says they are improving the system all the time. They have made it easier to book tests. They have change shift patterns, so some tests are being carried out overnight. And they have ensured test results link up with GP records. Hancock is now talking about the app. He says, as they tested it in the Isle of Wight, they found a technical problem that other countries have encountered. He says the UK app would not work because Apple would not change its system. And Apple’s does not measure distance well, he says. So he says the government is now joining up with Apple to find a solution.