As millions of people in China emerge from weeks of lockdown, their freedom of movement is largely dependent on smartphone apps.
The “health code” service — run on the ubiquitous platforms Alipay and WeChat, and developed for the Chinese government — gives users color-coded designations based on their health status and travel history, and a quick response (QR) code that can be scanned by authorities.
The apps are specific to each city or province, but generally people given a “green” code are allowed to travel relatively freely.
A “yellow” code indicates that the holder should be in home isolation, while a “red” code means the user is a confirmed COVID-19 patient and should be in quarantine.
The apps have become an integral part of the Chinese government’s management of people, and their movements in and out of affected areas.
When lockdown restrictions in Hubei Province were lifted last week, the government allowed residents with a green code to travel within and out of the province.
Some restaurants, shops, hotels and other establishments ask patrons to show their QR codes before entering.
In Wuhan, only those with a green code are allowed to take public transport.
However, the technology has raised concerns about its reach into people’s private lives and data.
There have been complaints by Chinese social media users about a lack of transparency over how the app works and what data it is storing. Some have reported being unable to change erroneous red designations, and questioned the reliance on Internet connection and surveillance.
“Why should you let companies such as Alipay and WeChat monitor and trace you with the health code?” one netizen wrote. “Can’t it be integrated into the chip of our ID card? And some people’s mobile phones are not connected to the Internet. I don’t know what leaders are thinking?”
The apps rely on a combination of self-reporting by the user and government data, including a person’s medical records, their travel history and if they have been in contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19.
Screen shots taken of an English-language version of the Alipay app showed that applicants are asked for contact and passport details, recent travel details and medical certification.
Ant Financial, an affiliate of Alibaba that operates Alipay, said that it does not provide or operate the service and has no access to the data entered into it.
The company said it provided technical support to the Hangzhou City Government when it was developing its version of the software.
Official guidelines for the WeChat app say it takes basic identity and address details, as well as “the history of close contact with suspected patients, history of travel and residence.”
It draws on medical information, including “symptoms [such as fever, cough], medical treatment, isolated observation, contact information, travel history of the epidemic area,” and the user’s travel history, including the mode of travel and what seat they sat in, and details of the vehicle and its driver.
The health code app, launched in Hangzhou in early February and described by state media as “Alipay health code,” spread to more than 100 cities within a week before it was rolled out nationally.
CONDITIONS: The Russian president said a deal that was scuppered by ‘elites’ in the US and Europe should be revived, as Ukraine was generally satisfied with it Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday said that he was ready for talks with Ukraine, after having previously rebuffed the idea of negotiations while Kyiv’s offensive into the Kursk region was ongoing. Ukraine last month launched a cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, sending thousands of troops across the border and seizing several villages. Putin said shortly after there could be no talk of negotiations. Speaking at a question and answer session at Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Putin said that Russia was ready for talks, but on the basis of an aborted deal between Moscow’s and Kyiv’s negotiators reached in Istanbul, Turkey,
A French woman whose husband has admitted to enlisting dozens of strangers to rape her while she was drugged on Thursday told his trial that police had saved her life by uncovering the crimes. “The police saved my life by investigating Mister Pelicot’s computer,” Gisele Pelicot told the court in the southern city of Avignon, referring to her husband — one of 51 of her alleged abusers on trial — by only his surname. Speaking for the first time since the extraordinary trial began on Monday, Gisele Pelicot, now 71, revealed her emotion in almost 90 minutes of testimony, recounting her mysterious
Thailand has netted more than 1.3 million kilograms of highly destructive blackchin tilapia fish, the government said yesterday, as it battles to stamp out the invasive species. Shoals of blackchin tilapia, which can produce up to 500 young at a time, have been found in 19 provinces, damaging ecosystems in rivers, swamps and canals by preying on small fish, shrimp and snail larvae. As well as the ecological impact, the government is worried about the effect on the kingdom’s crucial fish-farming industry. Fishing authorities caught 1,332,000kg of blackchin tilapia from February to Wednesday last week, said Nattacha Boonchaiinsawat, vice president of a parliamentary
DEFIANT: Ukraine and the EU voiced concern that ICC member Mongolia might not execute an international warrant for Putin’s arrest over war crimes in Ukraine Russian President Vladimir Putin was yesterday visiting Mongolia with no sign that the host country would bow to calls to arrest him on an international warrant for alleged war crimes stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The trip is Putin’s first to a member country of the International Criminal Court (ICC) since it issued the warrant about 18 months ago. Ahead of his visit, Ukraine called on Mongolia to hand Putin over to the court in The Hague, and the EU expressed concern that Mongolia might not execute the warrant. A spokesperson for Putin last week said that the Kremlin
RSS