China made the widespread use of QR-based health certificates mandatory earlier this year. The system, which uses electronic barcodes to store a person’s travel and health history, is credited with helping to prevent the spread of the virus.
The code presents users with a color code based on a possible contagion of the novel coronavirus. The colors are like traffic lights – green is safe, then amber and finally red.
“China has proposed a global mechanism for mutual recognition of health certificates based on nucleic acid test results in the form of an internationally accepted QR code. We hope more countries will join this mechanism,” Xi said.
Shea did not specify what type of application or QR code system they would suggest or who would design and run it.
And given the growing concern by countries around the world about the use of Chinese technology in sensitive industries, serious questions may arise about how the integrated QR system with Beijing will work.
The United States government is in talks with its closest allies in Europe, North America and the Pacific to abandon the Chinese 5G technology provided by communications giant Huawei, while the popular Chinese-made app Tick OK has been banned in India and the US.
Stuart Hargreaves, an associate professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Law, said that while there was nothing inherently aggressive about the QR code, privacy questions became “especially important” if it was used to store sensitive health information.
“(For example) what information is stored in the internal record, how it is generated, where it is stored, who has access to it.”
Hargreaves agreed that once a vaccine for coronavirus is available, there must be an international “digital health passport” of some variation.
“It was like Kovid before reaching for anything for travel, then some kind of international standard that is easy to achieve, easy to use, safe, and a protection of privacy is essential,” he said.
The main problem with any international coronavirus application will be to maintain the confidentiality of the data, said Raina M. Kantier, head of the biosecurity research program at the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales.
Minter suggested that a central database of information operated by the World Health Organization or a United Nations agency may be the most controversial way to create a covid tracking application.
“(Also) individuals will agree with another government that their government will not be able to access their data. That may be the cost of paying for travel.”
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