Head of NHS test-and-trace Dido Harding told to self-isolate by her own app

Test and test-and-trace chief Dido Harding has been told to self-isolate by the National Health Service app on her own mobile phone app.

"Nothing like personal experience of your own products ....got this overnight," she wrote on Twitter on Wednesday above a graphic from her phone with the message 'You need to self-isolate'.

"Feeling well. Many hours of Zoom ahead," she added.

It comes a week after her husband, Conservative MP John Penrose, was told to isolate by the app, and days after Boris Johnson began self-isolating.

Johnson was asked to stay at home on Sunday after having a meeting last week with Tory MP Lee Anderson, who then tested positive for coronavirus.

Harding was appointed to run England's coronavirus tracing programme in May with the task of overseeing a team to locate contacts of those who tested positive for the virus.

However, there was criticism of her appointment because of her limited experience of health care and also as her husband, John Penrose, is a lawmaker from Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party.

Official figures showed last week that the proportion of contacts of positive cases reached by her system remained at record lows, with about 60% of contacts reached, well below the 80% target.

Her system has managed to reach Johnson, who was told to self-isolate on Sunday, and her husband, who received the same instruction from his phone app on November 9.