Govt seeks to allay tracing app privacy worries

Health Secretary Sophia Chan has again sought to allay concerns over the use of the government’s LeaveHomeSafe app, reiterating that it would not send any personal data to the authorities.

She was speaking on Friday as health officials reported 24 new coronavirus infections, including six imported cases.

Nine of the local cases were linked to previous cases and nine did not have a clear source of infection. As a result, residents of nine more residential buildings have been ordered to undergo mandatory tests.

The government had earlier announced that if the epidemic situation did not worsen, social distancing rules would be relaxed on February 18.

Restaurants will be allowed to provide dine-in services until 10pm, and some businesses, including gyms, beauty parlours, theme parks and cinemas can reopen – on condition that they make sure customers scan the QR code of the LeaveHomeSafe app designed for tracing contacts of Covid-19 patients.

Businesses have said it would be difficult for them to ask customers to comply.

At a regular press briefing, Chan reassured people that there’s no question of privacy infringement.

“As to how to encourage people to do that, actually the LeaveHomeSafe app, there may be people that are worried about data, privacy and so on. The fact is there is no issue of data privacy, because the data would be just stored in the phone of the person. There is no platform that collects those data,” Chan said.

“That is really for the safety and also health of an individual so obviously this would be an incentive,” said Chan.

“Of course if everybody is cooperative and can do that, then I’m sure it would also help the general prevention and control of the epidemic,” she added.

When asked whether there will be any more “ambush-style” lockdowns after the Lunar New Year holiday, Chan said authorities will continue to make risk assessments before deciding the next move.

Earlier, the Hospital Authority said an 85-year-old chronically ill man suffering from Covid-19 had died.

It said the man was admitted to Yan Chai Hospital hospital late last month and he was put into intensive care on Wednesday.