Abstract
As COVID-19 is rapidly spreading around the world, some countries have launched or plan to implement contact-tracing apps to detect exposure risks. In China, the government relies on Health Code, developed by Alipay and WeChat, for identifying people potentially exposed to COVID-19. The color-based code can determine people’s exposure risks and freedom of movement based on factors like travel history, duration of time spent in risky areas, and relationships to potential carriers. This essay discusses the rise of Health Code from a platform perspective, arguing that digital platforms are key players conducting health surveillance and mediating state–citizen relations in China. More importantly, tracing apps might become a normal practice in many countries, suggesting that platforms will be substantially adopted for health surveillance.
Highlights
The outbreak of COVID-19 has resulted in a globally unprecedented response to health surveillance
Health Code can assess people’s contagion risks based on factors like travel history, duration of time spent in risky areas, and relationships to potential carriers
Geolocation data relying on smartphones’ Global Positioning System (GPS) and network carriers can determine whether users visited areas with widespread or ongoing spread, wherea s temporal data can examine the duration of time spent in risky areas
Summary
The outbreak of COVID-19 has resulted in a globally unprecedented response to health surveillance. Keywords COVID-19, Health Code, digital platforms, contact-tracing apps, health surveillance In China, two platforms Alipay and WeChat launched Health Code, a tracing app that aims to help governments identify people potentially exposed to COVID-19 (Mozur et al, 2020).
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