Victoria, Australia to Require QR Code Contact Tracing for All Businesses, Including Grocery Stores

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The state of Victoria now requires individuals to check in at all retail stores, supermarkets and cafes for the purpose of contact tracing using QR codes. Individuals who refuse to check in may be denied food. Contact tracing officers will be visiting supermarkets and other retail settings to make sure people are following the rules. Businesses may be fined up to $1,278 USD for not following QR code rules and a further $7,671 if there are repeated breaches. People who visited a ‘Tier 1 COVID Exposure site’ are advised to get tested immediately and quarantine for 14 days.

The Victorian government will now require people to check in at retail stores and supermarkets regardless of the length of time they spend in the store, as new data reveals a huge increase in check-ins to the Service Victoria app once the state forced businesses to begin using it.

As part of the extension of the lockdown in Melbourne, the acting premier, James Merlino, announced on Wednesday that supermarkets and retailers would be required to make everyone check in when they entered into the store. Previously it was only a recommendation.

After the state recorded a number of Covid-19 transmissions at retail stores where the contacts had “fleeting” contact, Victoria’s chief health officer, Prof Brett Sutton, said the change was to ensure records of everyone at potential exposure sites were complete.

“We are in a position now where the Victorian community is motivated to do the right thing and they understand the importance of contact tracing in this space,” he said.

“And even though we have been doing really well in identifying people at all exposure sites, I think everyone recognises that we have to do absolutely everything in our power to be able to chase down every single person who may be exposed because it is that one person who is not found who may be the one who spreads it.”

The Victorian government launched its Covid QR-code check-in app, Service Victoria, at the end of November 2020 but continued to allow hospitality venues to to use their own QR-code systems to record people visiting.

However, since the end of March, third-party app providers have been required to use the government application programming interface, meaning all the check-in data across the state goes to the one government-held database when contact tracers need it, regardless of which app is used.

The Service Victoria app then became mandatory for all businesses to use from Friday 28 May – coincidentally the first day Victoria entered a one-week lockdown due to a Covid-19 outbreak.

Data obtained by Guardian Australia reveals a significant increase in check-ins to the Service Victoria app in May as businesses began to transition to the single app.

The state had 18m check-ins between 13 and 31 May, out of 39m in total since the app was launched at the end of November 2020.

Victoria’s app still has recorded far fewer check-ins than its counterpart in New South Wales, where the Service NSW app has been mandatory since 1 January.

Read full article here…

ABC Australia:  https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-03/new-exposure-sites-victoria-june-3/100186638

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Ed
Ed
2 years ago

Another reason I would not want to live in that beautiful nation.

Questionit21
Questionit21
2 years ago

The Contact Tracing with the QR Code has been in play since middle of 2020 its nothing new every Business requires it however in South Australia there is hardly any Covid Marshall that checks the green check mark in Business. Where I live hardly anyone does it or fake it by not clicking on check in button so easy to get away with it. Until every Business has Covid Marshall’s to visually check phones for confirmation then can easily go anywhere and even if staff ask have you checked in can say yes and that’s how easy is to get… Read more »