Another U-turn from the government – and a promise that isn’t close to being delivered on

Editorial: It has always been a mystery as to why the world’s tech giants weren’t more closely involved, so keen are ministers, usually, on outsourcing

The latest data suggests that a quarter of those who’ve tested positive have not been successfully contacted (AFP)

An effective, rapid and technologically advanced system of testing and tracing the victims of Covid-19, and those who have been in contact with them, has always been crucial to the speed of national economical as well as clinical recovery.

Without the ability to, in the prime minister’s phrase, play whack-a-mole on any fresh outbreaks, there is slim chance of further relaxing social distancing and what remains of the lockdown regime. That, in turn, will have grim consequences for virtually every business, from fish and chip shops to the Royal Opera House.

It is lamentable. At the same time that Japan announces a fully-functioning app, Britons are told, with inadequate contrition, that the NHS app, supposed to be ready in mid-May, might be completely up and running by Christmas, by which point it will be rather too late for many.