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Coronavirus pandemic
Hong KongHong Kong Economy

Coronavirus: Hong Kong Jockey Club, telecoms firms team to give 20,000 elderly residents smartphones for using ‘Leave Home Safe’ app

  • The phones, which will be distributed via 12 local NGOs after a needs-based assessment, will come pre-equipped with a year-long data plan
  • While exemptions to use of the government’s risk-exposure app exist, any resident hoping to travel to mainland China will be required to have a smartphone

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An elderly Hong Kong resident uses the government’s “Leave Home Safe” app in Sham Shui Po. Photo: Felix Wong
Denise Tsang
About 20,000 underprivileged, elderly Hongkongers will soon be given smartphones and a year-long data plan so they can begin using the government’s mandatory coronavirus risk-exposure app.
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Confirming an earlier Post report, the Hong Kong Jockey Club on Tuesday said it had donated HK$27 million (US$3.46 million) worth of smartphones and mobile service plans to the elderly via a partnership with 12 non-government organisations and the city’s four mobile network service providers.

The move came in response to a government call for the donation of smartphones to those without them after the use of the “Leave Home Safe” app became mandatory at most public venues earlier this month.

An elderly man who is exempted from using the ‘Leave Home Safe’ app registers for entry on a piece of paper last month. No exemptions to the app’s use, however, will be granted for cross-border travel. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
An elderly man who is exempted from using the ‘Leave Home Safe’ app registers for entry on a piece of paper last month. No exemptions to the app’s use, however, will be granted for cross-border travel. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

“We became aware that some underprivileged elderly, especially those who are not living in residential care homes, don’t have smartphones and therefore can’t access the app,” Leong Cheung, the club’s executive director, charities and community, said in a statement.

“Partnering with NGOs and mobile network service providers, we wanted to help address this urgent and immediate need.”

The 20,000 beneficiaries represent just a fraction of the 1.43 million city residents aged 65 or above, who account for about 19 per cent of the population.

The app, introduced a year ago, is designed to help authorities trace close contacts of Covid-19 patients. Downloaded onto a smartphone, it is used to scan QR codes at venue entrances to log entry without collecting the user’s personal data or tracking movements in real time.

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