Chinese President Xi Jinping thinks the global community should implement a QR code system to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Xi pushed for the system when he addressed the virtual G20 leaders’ meeting on Sunday, according to CNN. This system was mandated within China’s borders earlier this year.
“China has proposed a global mechanism on the mutual recognition of health certificates based on nucleic acid test results in the form of internationally accepted QR codes. We hope more countries will join this mechanism,” he said.
The Chinese leader did not go into specifics but said enacting such a global policy would ensure the “smooth functioning” of the global economy, according to state-run news agency Xinhua.
Other countries, including Australia, Japan, and Singapore, have introduced tracking app technology to track citizens’ movement to follow people’s potential COVID-19 exposure, but the countries are not coordinating with one another, unlike the system Xi proposed.
President Trump’s administration has repeatedly blamed China for not doing more to notify the global community at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Additionally, the Trump administration has warned people and other countries from doing things that could give the Chinese government access to personal information, including partnering with Huawei and using TikTok, both of which are Chinese companies or have parent companies based in China. It is unclear how much information they share with the Chinese government.
To date, there have been more than 58 million COVID-19 diagnoses, and nearly 1.4 million people have died from the virus globally, according to the John Hopkins University coronavirus tracker.
