The Hong Kong government on Thursday made its check-in app mandatory for most adults in bars and restaurants, the latest expansion coronavirus Exploring technology at a time of growing privacy concerns in the city.
The international finance center has mostly kept infections at bay due to closed borders, some of the world’s strictest quarantine rules and ongoing social distancing rules.
No local infections have been recorded in months, but the city is further intensifying virus measures, aligning with China’s zero-Covid strategy as it seeks quarantine-free travel along the mainland.
Starting Thursday, all adults under the age of 65 must use the city government’s COVID app, scan a QR code to register their presence at 18 types of premises – including eateries, cinemas, gyms and karaoke venues.
If there is an outbreak the log can be used to trace the infection.
The relaxation was given to children and the elderly at the last minute after public backlash against the proposal to make the app mandatory for all.
The “exit home” app has been in use since November 2020, but as of Thursday, it was not mandatory and people could still fill out paper slips while entering places.
Chum Tak-shing, a local district councilor in Sham Shui Po, said many older residents who do not have exemptions in their working-class district do not have a phone to run the app, and cannot afford. “(They) now have to spend about HK$1,000 (US$128) on a smartphone and a new SIM card that they don’t need,” he told AFP.
Coronavirus contact tracing has taken hold in Hong Kong’s feverish politics as China cracks down on discontent in the city.
Despite assurances about data security from officials, there have been growing concerns about how the information collected by the app will be stored – and how it might be used.
User information on Hong Kong’s check-in app is currently associated with phone numbers, not names.
However, Mainland China uses a tracing app that links to people’s identities.
Last week, Hong Kong announced that anyone wishing to travel to the mainland must download a version of that app.
Some restaurants and venues within Hong Kong’s “yellow economy” – businesses that have supported the city’s now defunct democracy movement – have often refused to use “get out of the house” as a form of protest.
Many of them are considering doing takeout only to avoid using the app.
Oscar Yu, co-founder of local online delivery platform Lingduck, told AFP that questions from eateries to sign up to their service had risen 30-40 percent ahead of the app mandate rollout on Thursday.
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