RIGHTS groups continued to press Health Minister Matt Hancock today for answers about the new NHS app after he dismissed privacy concerns as “completely wrong.” 

Amnesty International raised concerns this week that the contact-tracing app, which is being made available to Isle of Wight residents this week, could open the door to state surveillance and infringe on privacy rights. 

The fears centre on the government’s decision to take a centralised approach, meaning that people’s data will be kept on a central computer server. 

Some European countries have taken a decentralised approach instead, with data-sharing kept between devices and not sent to a central database. 

Amnesty claimed that Britain’s decision to go with the centralised system could result in people’s privacy  “becoming another casualty” of the coronavirus. 

Mr Hancock dismissed these concerns today as “completely wrong.” 

He said: “Firstly because the data is stored on your phone until you need to get in contact with the NHS in order to get a test, and secondly because the purposes of this are purely and simply to control the spread of the virus, which is really important.”

But Amnesty said it was “not acceptable” that Mr Hancock had pushed concerns aside rather than addressing them. 

“Far greater justification and clarity is needed as to why the UK government is going against the privacy-preserving models of other European governments,” director Kate Allen said. 

“The public deserve answers, and Mr Hancock must ensure that they are forthcoming, rather than ploughing ahead without meaningful consultation and transparency.”

Liberty also hit back at Mr Hancock’s comments, saying: “The way forward isn’t a trade-off between privacy and public health.”

The NHS Covid-19 app aims to prevent a resurgence of the virus when lockdown ends by keeping track of infected people and those they come into contact with.