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Coronavirus: China unlikely to accept voluntary cross-border health code, Hong Kong’s sole delegate to top legislative body says

  • NPC Standing Committee member Tam Yiu-chung pours cold water on minister’s proposals for Covid-19 contact-tracing
  • Secretary for Innovation and Technology Alfred Sit suggested a new app would allow would-be travellers to offer details of their whereabouts

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The Hong Kong government has offered up a raft of new proposals aimed at easing Beijing’s concerns over its contact-tracing abilities and reopening the border for travellers. Photo: K. Y. Chen

Hong Kong’s sole delegate to China’s top legislative body has warned that mainland authorities are unlikely to accept any Covid-19 health code-sharing proposal from the city for residents to cross the border without having to undergo quarantine, unless they submit contact-tracing information as a mandatory requirement.

National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee member Tam Yiu-chung disagreed with Secretary for Innovation and Technology Alfred Sit Wing-hang, who dismissed suggestions that a voluntary system would be unacceptable to mainland authorities.

Sit revealed on Sunday that the government had submitted several options in a bid to meet strict contact-tracing requirements on the mainland, including a new platform that would allow would-be travellers to voluntarily provide information beyond that contained in the city’s “Leave Home Safe” app.

“On the mainland, if your mobile phone does not have a location-based system, you are required to buy a SIM card that does, and insert it into your phone so that you can be traced,” Tam said.

“When the mainland is so strict about contact tracing, and you come up with something that’s loose or reliant on self-responsibility, I’m afraid that they may not accept it and this will just drag on.”

One limit of Hong Kong’s ‘Leave Home Safe’ contact-tracing app is its dependence on QR codes available only at limited locations. Photo: May Tse
One limit of Hong Kong’s ‘Leave Home Safe’ contact-tracing app is its dependence on QR codes available only at limited locations. Photo: May Tse
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