What is the Significance of the Health QR Code in Fighting COVID-19?

During the COVID-19 epidemic, most people in China need to display the health QR code on their mobile phones at the epidemic prevention checkpoints in public places and communities when they go out or return home.

What is the health QR code? In short, it is an electronic pass in the form of two-dimensional code, which is divided into green, yellow and red according to the degree of risk, with the lowest risk in green and the highest in red. The application for a health QR code can be completed on the mobile phone. Input your name, ID number, residential address, travel experience and health status in the last 14 days according to the prompt, and the system will automatically generate your health QR code.

As a “pass” during the epidemic, the health QR code is playing a role in promoting the resumption of work and production and the safe and orderly flow of personnel. So how does the health QR code work?

The health QR code can do contact tracing in epidemiological investigation. When a person is found infected, the health QR code is helpful to determine his or her travel path and prompt their close contacts to isolate themselves immediately, so as to avoid wider spread of the virus and effectively control the number of infected persons.

The emergence of the health QR code not only unifies the information collection channels, but also improves the efficiency of data analysis.Previously, the channels for reporting health information generally included communities, schools and companies. The repeated reporting by these three channels consumed enormous human and material resources, slowed down work efficiency and even delayed the best time for epidemic prevention.

In the past, whether in communities, transportation hubs or public places, epidemic prevention staff needed to carefully check the health certificates of passers-by. Time was urgent, and there was the possibility of misreading. In the meantime, it would also lead to the crowding of people at the checkpoints and increase the risk of disease transmission. The health QR code simplifies the process to checking colors only, greatly improving the efficiency of inspection.

Besides China, South Korea also launched a similar application at an early stage. The novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic management system was launched by South Korea’s Ministry of the Interior and Safety in early March this year to track infected persons and isolated people. It took an average of one day in the traditional method to check the whereabouts of an infected person. The management system reduces the time to 10 minutes.

As the world epidemic prevention and control situation becomes more severe, many other countries around the world are also planning to launch their own “health code” applications in line with their respective national conditions. Europe has launched a project called Pan-European Privacy Preserving Proximity Tracing, or PEPP-PT. Apple and Google plan to jointly develop a new coronavirus epidemic tracking technology. All of the above technologies are based on big data analysis to track new coronavirus infected persons and give risk warnings to close contacts.

New things are always going through a tortuous process before being recognized and popularized, and the health QR code is no exception. All countries must jointly explore how to ensure the security and effectiveness of health code information, and how to better use big data to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.