China to enforce nationwide health code system after public complaints about travel hassles
- Travellers complain digital travel passes have not worked well between provinces
- Authorities promise updated system will feature mutual recognition between provinces
China’s National Health Commission has announced that it will enforce mutual recognition of its health code system nationwide, as travellers continue to battle with health code apps that do not communicate well between provinces.
Provinces have been operating separate versions of the health code app since its introduction more than two years ago.
As one of the earliest contact-tracing measures introduced under China’s zero-Covid policy, the health code, known as jiankang ma, uses a traffic-light system to indicate whether an individual has been to a place known to have Covid-19 infections, and what risk they are at of being exposed. An individual’s status must be shown when travelling or entering public places.
The holder’s vaccination status, Covid-19 testing results and the number of days since their last test are registered and presented in the code.
They system has allowed authorities to effectively track and monitor people’s movements in an effort to curb the spread of the virus, but for travellers, it has also resulted in more headaches.
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Travelers are required to download or switch to a different app after arriving at their destination province. But sometimes their test results, conducted in another province, do not appear in the app of the destination province. The vaccination status from a different province will not be updated in the health code unless it is manually inputted into the destination’s database.