{"id":7036,"date":"2022-03-11T14:21:03","date_gmt":"2022-03-11T14:21:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2022\/03\/11\/zoe-covid-tracking-app-loses-government-funding\/"},"modified":"2022-03-11T14:21:03","modified_gmt":"2022-03-11T14:21:03","slug":"zoe-covid-tracking-app-loses-government-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2022\/03\/11\/zoe-covid-tracking-app-loses-government-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"Zoe Covid-tracking app loses government funding"},"content":{"rendered":"
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An app that has been widely used to track Covid symptoms will not extend its government funding as the UK adapts to living with the disease.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Co-founder of the study app Zoe Covid, Prof. Tim Spector, called the decision “a really bad mistake”<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The app had received more than \u00a35million in grants from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The UKHSA said it will continue to monitor Covid-19 “through our world-leading studies and many data sources”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Zoe app offered a new way to track diseases, where users input symptoms and experts analyze the data.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Launched in March 2020, over the next two years the app, developed by King’s College London and tech company Zoe, helped discover new symptoms of Covid. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It also reported on the impact of vaccines and provided updated predictions on the spread of the pandemic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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With 4.7 million users and 850,000 daily contributors collecting more than 480 million health reports, the app has been part of one of the largest studies of its kind in the world and has resulted in 40 peer-reviewed scientific papers based on the results.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In a statement published on YouTube, epidemiologist Prof Spector said: “The UK Government has informed us with just a few weeks’ notice that we will no longer receive any funding from them to track Covid or help us to further develop the study to help with other things like heart disease, cancer or dementia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“It’s really disappointing. Just a few weeks ago they told me it was practically certain that they would continue to fund us.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“We have shown how effective our methods can be.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Prof Spector said it was relatively cheap to implement compared to other methods of tracking disease.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe absolutely believe this is a really bad mistake. Zoe could have been the tool to protect Britain from the next pandemic and save the NHS millions as we try to find ways to prevent serious illness.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Prof Spector said the app has utility beyond Covid – as a “health monitoring tool” for many diseases.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The future of the app is uncertain. It is being funded in the short-term by the co-founders and Prof Spector remains hopeful the government may change their minds.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He appealed on Twitter to those who used the app and saw its value in emailing the health security agency.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In a statement, the UKHSA said: “Due to the reduction in serious illness and deaths from Covid-19, we are entering a new phase of living with the virus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“We thank all participants for supporting our surveillance work during the most challenging public health crisis in living memory.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n