South Korea Health Services Expand Tracking of COVID-19 Contacts with Blockchain

The health institutions in South Korea are using every available tool to fight Coronavirus disease. The most recent technological alternative is using a blockchain app system to track Covid-19 contacts in different parts of the country.

The Covid-19 pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 2,041,539 people globally and South Korea alone has lost over 1,264 people. The disease came when all countries were not prepared for it, but as time went on new technologies were introduced to reduce its spread. Most health institutions are doing everything possible to find a vaccine and a drug that can completely cure it.

Among the technology being used are DLT and artificial intelligence. Governments have supported and invested heavily in computer and information technology firms to develop applications (apps) that can detect the disease in different ways.

Technology is guarding health

The pilot of the first blockchain-based app was launched in Jeju Island in summer 2020, the most popular tourist destination of South Korea. The platform called Jeju Safety Code (JSC) was aimed at tracking the number of infected people working at 50 local companies and government bodies. Since January 15, the coverage of the app was expanded to all tourists visiting the destination.

The JSC app deploys digital identity tech to offer secure, private contact tracing. Individuals’ data and locations are coded and kept on the DLT, and only accessed and intended for epidemiological inspection of confirmed cases.

The system makes the process of tracing victims in this high-traffic area faster because it enables quick access to a patient’s record of the places they visited, and the people they had physical contact with, and this enables the ministry of health Covid-19 task force to quickly identify infected people and take action immediately.

Triggering milder limitations

The app has so far been used by over 5,000 businesses registered to operate on the Island including busy places like restaurants. This blockchain-based app will trigger milder Coronavirus restrictive measures in this independent Province.  

This new app will aid to combat the alteration, forgery and the manipulation of visitors data because the visitors record data, and personal ID will be stored on the DLT system. The Blockchain technology is now a powerful prevention tool that is used to secure the lives of both the citizens and tourists coming to S.Korea.

If the app turns out to be effective enough after it has been expanded to a larger number of people, the next step may be expanding its coverage to the entire territory of South Korea.