Things are tough right now. 

Watching the number of COVID cases climb while being isolated indoors is leaving lots of us feeling helpless, but there’s one important way you can do to help us get through this quicker: log your health daily with the ZOE app.

Since March 2020 we’ve been using anonymised data from millions of contributors to keep the UK safer. Our data is used by the government to help inform policy and also keeps you informed on COVID-19 in your local area. 

If you previously signed up for the app and haven’t been logging lately, now’s the perfect time to come back.

Simply download the ZOE COVID Symptom Study app and spend just a minute every day logging your health. 

And if you’re already one of our million-plus regular users across the UK, why not encourage your friends, family, colleagues and neighbours to join too?

Here are five good reasons to download the app and start logging today.

1. Play your part in the fight against COVID-19

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and helpless during this time of uncertainty and stress, especially if it seems like everything is out of your control. By taking positive actions like logging your health daily from the safety of your sofa (or wherever you like) you’ll be doing your bit to help us all get through the months ahead. 

Watch the video to see what we achieved in 2020 with our 4.5 million contributors.

Here are just a few of the public responses we got from our contributors:

2. Stay informed about your local area 

The ZOE app is a vital tool for following the spread of COVID-19 in detail across the regions of the UK in near real-time. We are days ahead of testing data and other surveys. Daily data from the app goes to the government and other key decision-makers so they can see what’s going on and plan the response to the pandemic.

The number of COVID-19 cases isn’t the same across the UK. Knowing how rates are changing in different parts of the country is essential for deciding on when to raise or lower local restrictions and lockdowns. 

But importantly, it also helps you stay informed and ahead of the curve.

3. Help us understand COVID-19

This time last year we knew virtually nothing about the strange flu-like illness that had emerged in China. 

Today, thanks to the data from millions of contributors our data scientists and researchers have been able to identify important symptoms of COVID-19 like anosmia (loss of smell), delirium (confusion) and skin rashes. We also saw the emergence of what’s now known as long COVID before it was officially recognised.

As we move forward, data from the app is helping us to understand even more about COVID-19, such as how common reinfection is, how people are affected in the long term, and the impact of new variants.

4. Monitor the impact of vaccines

With over 4.5million downloads and one million regular contributors, we are in the unique position of being able to monitor the roll out of vaccines in the UK, gathering valuable data that will be crucial to ending the pandemic.

Since the first vaccine was given, we have been asking contributors to record when they receive a COVID-19 vaccine and to log any after effects. Right now we’re the only study doing this, so we need as many people as possible to join to make sure the data is accurate.

We’re also asking people who don’t want to have a vaccine to tell us why, to understand more about people’s feelings and choices about vaccination. 

Not only will this allow us to track the uptake of vaccination across the UK, but it will also be the largest community-led study monitoring the impact and effects of COVID vaccines in the world.

5. Keep your loved ones and community safe 

There are more symptoms of COVID-19 than the ‘classic triad’ of cough, fever and loss of smell such as fatigue, headaches, diarrhea, skin rashes and confusion (delirium) - which are all included in the ZOE COVID Symptom Study app.

Logging your health daily will help us spot these early signs. If it looks like you might have COVID-19 we’ll invite you to get tested, so you can quickly find out if you’re infected. This encourages people to self-isolate sooner, slowing the spread of the virus through communities.

You can also log daily health reports on behalf of elderly relatives and children, which will make our data as representative of the population as possible. Share this link with your child’s headteacher so they can join our School Communities Programme to help keep schools safe. 

And a few more...

There are plenty more bonuses to using the ZOE COVID Symptom Study app, including:

• Weekly video updates from Professor Tim Spector 
• Webinars with leading scientific experts
• Staying up to date with the latest research
• Knowing you’re part of the world’s largest community-led scientific study during a historic pandemic
• Having something positive to do instead of “doomscrolling” through social media!

Together we’ll get through this

Our millions of app users have already helped us demonstrate that the ZOE COVID Symptom Study is accurate, reliable, cost-effective and timely. 

We need as many people as possible across the UK to download and use the app daily to provide the data we need to help us follow the pandemic as vaccines roll out.

Stay safe and keep logging.