South Korea Mandates QR Codes to Log Prospects After Nightclub Coronavirus Outbreak

South Korea is testing a brand new fast response (QR) code system this week to log guests at high-risk leisure services, eating places and church buildings in a bid to trace coronavirus circumstances and forestall additional unfold of the illness.

The choice to mandate QR codes to register guests’ identities got here after authorities struggled to hint individuals who had visited quite a lot of nightclubs and bars on the centre of a virus outbreak final month after a lot of the knowledge on handwritten customer logs was discovered to be false or incomplete.

Beginning June 10, guests to nightclubs, bars, karaoke golf equipment, daytime discos, indoor gyms that maintain group workout routines, and indoor standing live performance halls, will probably be required to make use of any of quite a lot of commercially obtainable apps to generate a one-time, personalised QR code that may be scanned on the door.

Native governments can also designate different high-risk services comparable to libraries, hospitals, eating places, or church buildings.

The particular person’s data will probably be logged in a database saved by the Social Safety Info Service for 4 weeks, earlier than it’s robotically deleted, in keeping with South Korea’s Ministry of Well being and Welfare.

Forward of the rollout of the brand new system, the ministry is testing the system at 17 services, together with leisure spots, church buildings, libraries, eating places, and a hospital.

Some native governments have already carried out related QR necessities after the nightclub outbreak, which led to not less than 270 circumstances and raised fears of a second wave of infections.

Seongdong-gu, a district within the capital metropolis of Seoul, established QR code programs at 172 services, in keeping with the district workplace.

“I believe prospects really feel safer as private data is managed underneath the management of a authorities system, not individually by us,” mentioned Cheon Min-woo, who manages an web cafe in Seongdong-gu.

Shin No-ah, a 19-year-old college pupil who was visiting the Web cafe, mentioned the system was handy and it was well worth the privateness trade-off.

“Relating to the privateness infringement subject, we simply give our cell phone quantity, so it’s important for presidency to hint coronavirus circumstances.”

© Thomson Reuters 2020