Hong Kong: Authorities said that QR health codes for tracking people’s health status amid the COVID-19 epidemic are already well-prepared and that they would apply it when the latest spike is under control, predicting that they could complete a mobile phone app within September that tracks local residents’ movements and warns them of infection risks.
The Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Bureau (ITB), which is in charge of the system, said in an email to the Global Times on Monday that they would keep in close negotiations with related authorities in Shenzhen and make an arrangement regarding the system depending on the epidemic situation on both sides. The QR health code system is aimed at facilitating residents in cross border travel, to revive Hong Kong’s economy and livelihood by helping residents get exemptions from 14-day quarantine through mutually recognized nucleic acid testing results, the ITB said, noting that they understand local residents look forward to restoring travel between Hong Kong, the mainland and Macao as soon as possible. The remarks came after Alfred Sit Wing-hang, the secretary of the bureau, said on Saturday that the Hong Kong regional government will officially release and assign the QR code, which was already prepared in June, once the latest domestic resurgence is contained.
While the authorities refused to estimate a clear timing to launching the system, Jin Dongyan, a professor at the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Hong Kong, deemed that the authorities will probably not launch the health codes until new infections in the city decline to zero and remain at that level for 7-21 days. Jin estimated that new infections would not decline to zero until late September. Hong Kong’s health authority reported 11 new domestically transmitted cases on Monday. Although the universal community testing scheme has found some confirmed cases, the daily number of new confirmed cases in the city is still seeing daily double-digit rises, indicating that the transmission chain, especially silent carriers, has not yet been broken.
– The Daily Mail-Global Times News exchange item
