Thailand
Thailand: Chamber pushes digital health app
The private sector has offered guidelines to “open a safe city” and recommends using a Digital Health Pass to reopen business.
Thai Chamber of Commerce chairman Sanan Angubolkul said the chamber and a working group proposed relaxing restrictions on economic activities so entrepreneurs could safely resume business operations.
“The private sector believes relaxing restrictions to allow businesses to resume their operations should take into account the risk associated with business areas and the nature of the business,” said Mr Sanan.
“We can use current information to determine the risk of an area, instead of solely relying on the number of infected persons. This can be determined from vaccination coverage for the population in an area and for at-risk groups, the capacity of public health services such as the remaining number of yellow/red beds or the number of ICU patients, and the proportion of deaths per infected people.”
Kalin Sarasin, senior chairman of the chamber and chairman of the working group, said some business activities should be considered for resumption, but the risk of these activities must be assessed and prioritised.
“We live in a new world now,” he said. “The private sector is ready to accept international standards for both prevention and cleaning to allow businesses to move forward.”
For low-risk activities, businesses should be allowed to resume immediately. For businesses with a medium risk, additional measures are required, said Mr Kalin.
The group suggests the security of both service providers and users be checked using the Digital Health Pass for a safe reopening of businesses.
High-risk businesses, such as entertainment venues, should remain closed, according to the proposal.
Mr Sanan said the Digital Health Pass could also be used to check vaccination records or Covid-19 rapid test results. Such records should be linked with the Public Health Ministry’s information to verify and confirm people’s health, he said.
“From studying the guidelines for reopening activities from abroad, we’ve found many countries have learned to coexist with the pandemic, increasing certain measures to prevent more deaths,” said Mr Kalin.
“The coherent use of such a system will help reduce the risk of new outbreaks. However, the private sector sees communication and cooperation from the public as very important. Any guidelines issued should be simple and practical.”
The working group also offered additional recommendations for a Digital Health Pass, saying it should support the reading of foreigners’ vaccine certificates in the future as well as offline work to prevent a system crash if there are many users.
The app should be encrypted to prevent tampering and readability, the working group said.
In addition, the system must account for privacy, security, and verifiable transparency so it can be adjusted and upgraded quickly if the situation changes.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2171847/chamber-pushes-digital-health-app