Coronavirus: inbound travellers from Europe, US to be issued Bluetooth quarantine wristbands at Hong Kong airport

Authorities will also help users install an accompanying mobile app

The latest move comes amid complaints that a previous version of the tracking device which relies on QR codes is not working properly

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The new Bluetooth electronic wristbands. Photo: Handout

Published: 11:05pm, 25 Mar 2020Updated: 6:38am, 26 Mar 2020

New electronic tracking wristbands will be used to monitor arrivals under quarantine orders to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, even as residents continued to report problems in activating the existing tracking system.

The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) said the new Bluetooth wristbands would be in use from Wednesday at the airport, but only for those entering Hong Kong from Europe or the United States.

“The electronic wristband itself has a tracking function and when paired with the mobile app, it provides an extra guarantee the person is in fact at home,” said Victor Lam Wai-kiu, the Government Chief Information Officer.

As the wristbands are connected to the wearers’ mobile phones via Bluetooth, Lam said it would enable the authorities to know if they had left their houses once it was out of range or if the users attempted to leave their phones at home.

Victor Lam shows the ‘Stay Home Safe’ app which is connected to the tracking wristband. Photo: Winson Wong

A previous version of the wristband, which authorities started giving out last Thursday, did not have a tracking ability and instead relied on the wearers scanning a QR code printed on the band from time to time to report their locations. More than 32,000 of the QR code wristbands had been given out, Lam said.