BORIS Johnson has doubled down on his false claim that no other country in the world has launched a functional track and trace app.
The Prime Minister repeated the statement in the Commons for a second consecutive day, despite several other countries having successfully rolled out coronavirus apps.
The National’s fact-checking service deemed Johnson’s claims to be demonstrably false.
During another PMQs in which Keir Starmer appeared to get the better of the Tory leader, Johnson was asked whether the contact tracing app is of critical importance to the UK Government.
He said: "Up until last week, the Government maintained that the app was critical ... But at the weekend the Health Secretary downplayed the app, saying it was only ever additional support. So which is it – critical or not?"
FACT CHECK: PM's claim no country has a functional coronavirus tracing app
Johnson stated: "I wonder whether [Starmer] can name a single country in the world that has a functional contact tracing app? Because there isn't one."
The Labour leader replied: "Germany – 12 million downloads. I checked that overnight."
He added that other countries are ahead of the UK, asking: "When are we going to have a working app?"
The PM said Starmer was "completely wrong", again claiming: "No country in the world has a working contact tracing app and I've always been clear, we've always been clear, that the app would be the icing on the cake.
"If we can get it to work it'll be a fine thing but there isn't one anywhere in the world so far."
Watch the exchange in full here.
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