Learnings from China: Using a Health Code To Contain the Coronavirus

The app rates people on a three-color scale based on information about their recent travel activity and their current health status—from green (no infection, low risk) to yellow (mild symptoms, moderate risk) to red (symptoms of infection, high risk). Users that receive a yellow rating are required to self-quarantine for seven days, which is increased to 14 days for a red rating. The risk rating provided by the app refreshes when the user inputs updated travel and health information.

Residents of the areas utilising this system must scan a QR code at staffed checkpoints in order to enter an apartment complex or market, with guards only allowing green-rated individuals to pass. Users have raised concerns about data privacy issues in using the health code system, as it as it records the movement of the user by accessing the geolocation data on their smartphone. In addition, some have reported that residents of the same household that have travelled to the same places have received different color codes from the rating system.