Coronavirus: NHS Covid-19 app to gain self-isolation payments

England and Wales' contact-tracing app is to add a Self-Isolation Payment feature as soon as next week. The version 4 update will address a discrepancy that currently exists. Those told to stay at home by human contact-tracers can qualify for £500 of support. But privacy safeguards built into the NHS Covid-19 app had complicated making the same offer to those who had received an automated self-isolate notification. It is hoped the move will encourage more people to install the app and follow its guidance over the Christmas period, when there are concerns that cases of the coronavirus could spike again.