Security News > 2020 > November > Australia to track coronavirus encounters with payment card records
Australia will develop the capability to use payment records in the service of coronavirus contact tracing.
A National Contact Tracing Review released last Friday called for a raft of information technology responses to the pandemic, on grounds that containment of the novel coronavirus will be needed even after a vaccine emerges.
The report notes that Australia has generally done very well managing the pandemic, but that some contact tracing efforts still rely on handwritten records and contact details are inconsistently recorded in public venues such as restaurants.
Complicating matters is that Australia's eight State and Territory provide contact tracing services, with the Commonwealth government operating less hands-on services like the COVIDsafe national contact tracing app and directing the overall pandemic response.
"The Commonwealth should lead the development of arrangements between states and territories and payment card providers so that contact tracers from the states and territories will be able to request contact details of persons who have made a transaction at a hotspot venue, noting that privacy rules will apply and in some jurisdictions legislative change may be required."