UK health secretary self-isolating after being 'pinged' by COVID-19 contact tracing app

LONDON -- British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Tuesday that he is self-isolating after being "pinged" by the National Health Service coronavirus contact tracing app.

In a video posted to Twitter, Hancock said: "Last night I was pinged by the NHS coronavirus app, so that means I'll be self-isolating at home, not leaving the house at all, until Sunday."

"This self-isolation is perhaps the most important part of all the social distancing, because I know from the app that I've been close contact with somebody who's tested positive. And this is how we break the chains of transmission. So you must follow these rules, like I'm going to," he said.

"I've got to work from home for the next six days and together, by doing this, by following this and all the other panoply of rules that we've had to put in place, we can get through this and beat this virus," he said.

England is currently under the third national lockdown since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country. Similar restriction measures are also in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Another 37,535 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, the lowest daily increase since the start of the year, according to official figures released Monday.

The daily figure brought the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 3,433,494, the data showed.

Another 599 have died within 28 days of a positive test. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 89,860, the data showed.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States have been racing against time to develop coronavirus vaccines.