Security News > 2020 > May > Contact-tracing app may become a permanent fixture in major Chinese city

Contact-tracing app may become a permanent fixture in major Chinese city
2020-05-26 06:02

One of China's major tech hubs is planning to make a health and movement tracking system developed to fight the COVID-19 epidemic a permanent fixture in daily life.

Officials in the city of Hangzhou, home to Alibaba and other Chinese tech concernts, said on Friday the local government wishes to create creating a permanent version the country's tracing app that was designed to help lift the country out of lockdown.

The proposed system would be a "'firewall' to enhance people's health and immunity" after the pandemic, the city's health commission said.

The app covers one billion people and the codes it generates have been scanned more than nine billion times, according to Tencent, which co-developed the app with Alibaba.

The proposal put forward by Hangzhou's Health Commission would assign users a health score ranging from 0 to 100 based on their medical records, physical examinations, as well as lifestyle factors, such as how many cigarettes they smoke, steps they walk, or hours they sleep daily.


News URL

https://go.theregister.co.uk/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/26/hangzhou_permanent_contact_tracing/