Consider better ways to identify infectious disease patients than scanning SafeEntry QR code

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
                   / KUCINTA SETIA

Contact tracing in Singapore by scanning SafeEntry QR codes is mandatory from 12 May 2020. 

Private checks at malls show SafeEntry QR signs are in place. 

It is generally thought scanning SafeEntry QR code is sufficient but it is not so.

Identification cards are useful if it is impossible to scan the SafeEntry QR code. If the visitors are not familiar with SafeEntry or do now own mobile phones, it is better to bring along NRICs, Ezlink or other identification cards for manual scanning by staff.

For a handphone user who has never used QR scanner and reader, there are many types of QR applications. Before accessing SafeEntry, one needs to decide firstly which QR scanner and reader to use because there are countless of QR applications even in Google that charge fees for usages.

If the first-time user chooses the QR app with the year "2020" indicated, download but be sure to close the other application advertisements before scanning the SafeEntry QR sign. Once the user has scanned the SafeEntry QR sign, remember to click the link after that to check-in with the user name, NRIC and handphone number. 

Remember to click the arrow sign for "Remember your particulars" after the visitor's mobile number. If one does not, even after  the time application is submitted and the destination has automatically recorded the visitor time of entry, the user will not be able to view the time page after closing the page.

At the time of exit, the visitor will need to check-out from SafeEntry by keying the NRIC and other particulars again. 

It is impossible to download and view the pages that show the check-in and check-out times.

The whole process can take up to twenty minutes each time for the first-time user. The staff of the office may not be able to assist the first-time user if he or she is not familiar with the technology.

At NTUC FairPrice Xtra, the best contact tracing method is scanning the NRIC bar code if the visitor does not have a mobile phone or finds it difficult to start mobile applications. Scanning an NRIC bar code is faster and easier than scanning SafeEntry QR code.

After that, the user will undergo temperature check at the entry of the supermarket.

It is advisable to bring along relevant NRICs, or other identification cards for manual scanning before entries to malls, supermarkets, hair salons and offices. 

During and after the circuit breaker is over, the Singapore Government should also make it mandatory to bring along identification cards such as NRIC to assist in contact tracing at all office buildings, offices, supermarkets, bookshops, schools, institutions, hotels, restaurants, public transport terminals, farms, tourist destinations and hair salons as well. These will ensure contact tracing in Singapore is practised by the entire country's population and tourists.

Experts suggest the Singapore Government to consider encrypting Ezlink cards or coming up with wearable advices for non-users of SafeEntry especially the elderly and people who do not own mobile phones to assist in contact tracing. 

The Ezlink solution is first suggested by Lin Wen Xian, the Managing Director of MQuest while the wearable device solution is first suggested by Sudheendra Shantharam the founder of wearable device technology company KaHa. 

The Ezlink solution is possible only if the user's photo appears on it. The bar-coded Adult Monthly Travel Card of Land Transport Authority (LTA) for Singaporeans can be used for entries at Singaporean malls.

To ensure tourists' safe travel in Singapore after the end of the circuit breaker period and resumption of international flights to Singapore, StayGate suggests widening the Singapore Tourist Pass's and Singapore Tourist Pass Plus+'s  scope of coverage to include usage at any tourist destination, supermarket and office in Singapore and encrypting this pass for tourists' convenience. The Singapore Tourist Pass, which is basically a special Ezlink card for a period of three days, can only be purchased by tourists through Changi Recommends' web-site and at Changi Airport for unlimited usage on LRT, MRT and public buses. 

Currently, the above methods do not record whether the user has covid symptoms at the time of premises entry. It is particularly impossible to single out asymptomatic cases unless they are tested positive scientifically. It is impossible for the destinations to know whether the visitor is fit and healthy to visit these places unless health declarations are performed. They only suggest who may have come into contact with a patient on a Stay-Home-Notice (SHN) who has gone out illegally to the destinations.

Better way of contact tracing to identify infectious disease patients

If the above identification cards and mobile applications are useless, a long-term solution for Singapore and the world to consider may be a cross-border health passport, a medium-size book produced by publishers of the relevant countries' Ministries of Health disease-awareness public documents and issued by registered doctors and physicians with the black-and-white verified information on the visitor's health condition. 

These information includes whether the visitor has contacted any infectious disease (not only covid), any underlying illness such as hypertension, diabetes, history of heart attack, any symptom as recorded by anti-infectious disease frontline staff, any health condition that may prevent the visitor to continue travel and whether the visitor has been under the relevant quarantine period-in-concern in the respective countries. 

If this is feasible, the health passport must be endorsed by the respective Customs & Immigration officers and shown to the destinations of the visitors before entry.

Ref :

Yang Jun Jin, Su Wen Qi, Difficult to ensure that users always start mobile phone applications / Experts: use sports watches or Ezlink to assist in contact tracing, Lianhe Zaobao, 10 May 2020.