Venues have been refusing entry to customers who have not downloaded the NHS Covid-19 app, despite less than a sixth of the UK population – around 10 million people – getting it on their phones.
The infection tracing software has been plagued with problems with the latest fiasco seeing up to 70,000 users blocked from logging their test results.
But despite the glitches, pubs and restaurants are starting to turn customers who do not have it on their phones.
Families have said officious venues have refused to let them in, despite the government’s own guidance stating it should not be a precondition of entry.
The rules only tell businesses they ‘must’ display the ‘official NHS QR poster’ and apply for a code to be connected to the app.
But customers without the special phone system should still be allowed in as long as they supply their contact details in some form.
Pubs and restaurants have started turning away customers who don’t have the app
Brits have encountered problems using the tracing app, while others who refuse to install it say they have been denied entry into pubs and restaurants
One punter wrote on Twitter: ‘I have today been refused entry into two establishments {a cafe and a pub} because I haven’t downloaded the NHS track and trace app!! Is this right?’
Another one said: ‘Last night I was denied a meal because I didn’t have a Gvt phone app!!!!
‘You may think I’m being over dramatic but you must now get the point. What else are we soon going to be denied access to unless we have a government phone app. Please, please, please people wake up.’
One user, Chloe James, wrote: ‘I’m in a pub and apparently they’ve been told they can’t serve anyone unless they have the track and trace app.’
The Government’s guidance on the app say that not having it is not a reason for venues to refuse entry, as long as they give their contact details.
But places like pubs could use the excuse of licensing regulations as a reason to stop people coming in, citing public safety.
Matt Hancock said on social media it was an ‘absolutely fantastic’ response so far, and urged more people to download it.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said that six million people had downloaded the app the first day it launched, and this had since risen to 10 million by midday on Sunday.
More than 1.5 million venue check-ins were recorded on Saturday while more than 460,000 businesses have downloaded and printed QR code posters that can be scanned by the app to check-in to premises, it added.
These QR codes allow contact tracers to reach multiple people if an outbreak is identified in a venue.
Mr Hancock said: ‘The enthusiastic response of over 10m people downloading the app in just three days has been absolutely fantastic.
‘This is a strong start but we want even more people and businesses getting behind the app because the more of us who download it the more effective it will be.
‘If you haven’t downloaded it yet I recommend you join the growing numbers who have, to protect yourself and your loved ones.’
Despite problems more than ten million people have downloaded the app
His comments come a day after an issue preventing users of the NHS Covid-19 app in England logging a positive test result was resolved, but people who book a test outside the app still cannot log negative results.
However NHS hospitals warn the test and trace systems in England isn’t ready for the demands of winter.
NHS Providers is calling for testing capacity to be quadrupled within three months, a dramatic improvement on turnaround times and a clear plan for regular testing of health workers, according to the BBC.
Concerns were expressed when it emerged people tested in NHS hospitals or Public Health England (PHE) labs, or those taking part in the Office for National Statistics infection survey, could not enter their results on the newly-launched app.
The app has been available for download across England and Wales since Thursday, but the problem existed only in England.
A tweet from the official app account on Friday confirmed that certain test results could not be recorded, after a user tweeted to say he was being asked for a code – which he did not have – in order to enter his result.
On Saturday evening, a spokeswoman said: ‘Everyone who receives a positive test result can log their result on the app.’