A customer making a payment using a Wechat QR payment code (centre) via her smartphone, next to an Alipay QR code (left), at a vegetable market in Beijing. Worries over privacy and data security have been heightened by the health codes and fears it marks a rush of government surveillance into hundreds of millions of lives. — AFP
BEIJING: Daily life in China follows a rhythm of digital check-ins, with the QR code – at offices, malls and transport hubs – an integral defence against Covid-19 that helps to track, trace and isolate patients.
Now the country where the coronavirus was first detected is launching a digital “health passport” for its 1.4 billion population which it hopes will eventually re-start international travel.
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A customer making a payment using a Wechat QR payment code (centre) via her smartphone, next to an Alipay QR code (left), at a vegetable market in Beijing. Worries over privacy and data security have been heightened by the health codes and fears it marks a rush of government surveillance into hundreds of millions of lives. — AFP
A file photo shows people scanning a QR code to display their health status as they line up to be tested for the Covid-19 coronavirus in Beijing, after a partial lockdown was imposed on the Chinese capital on Jan 20. — AFP
A file photo shows the QR payment code for Wechat Pay (right) beside a book about Chinese President Xi Jinping, titled ‘Xi Jinping; The Governance of China’, at a news stand in Beijing. — AFP
A file photo shows a woman using her mobile phone to scan a QR code for health registration before entering an outdoor ice rink in Beijing. — AFP
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