A new system that requires high-risk locations such as bars and nightclubs to use QR codes to log all customers on entry so that they can be easily traced should the venue later be found to have been a Covid-19 hotspot is to be rolled out across South Korea from 10 June.

A version of the system that also supports NFC has already been introduced in a number of districts in the country’s capital, Seoul, Reuters reports:

“The decision to mandate QR codes to register visitors’ identities came after authorities struggled to trace people who had visited a number of nightclubs and bars at the centre of a virus outbreak last month after much of the information on handwritten visitor logs was found to be false or incomplete,” the news agency says.

“Starting 10 June, visitors to nightclubs, bars, karaoke clubs, daytime discos, indoor gyms that hold group exercises, and indoor standing concert halls, will be required to use any of a number of commercially available apps to generate a one-time, personalised QR code that can be scanned at the door.

“Local governments may also designate other high-risk facilities such as libraries, hospitals, restaurants or churches.

“The person’s information will be logged in a database kept by the Social Security Information Service for four weeks, before it is automatically deleted.”

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