Jab Records Should Be Properly Kept

Citizens using the LeaveHomeSafe mobile app should properly keep their paper and electronic vaccination records and refrain from sending such information to others.

Secretary for Innovation & Technology Alfred Sit made the statement in the Legislative Council in response to lawmaker Lo Wai-kwok’s questions today.

The Government launched the LeaveHomeSafe version 2.0 with an additional function of storing electronic vaccination records as a convenient way for the public to store and display such information when necessary.

To address the public’s concern over personal privacy, users can utilise the app without registering personal information.

Mr Sit explained that similar to visit records, the electronic vaccination records stored in the app will only be saved in the user’s mobile phone and will not be uploaded to any other systems.

The app will verify the QR code’s authenticity when the user stores the electronic vaccination record. However, the app can neither verify whether the user is the vaccination record owner, nor whether the vaccination record has been stored on other mobile devices.

He stressed that as the vaccination record contains personal data, the public should properly keep their paper and electronic vaccination records. They should not causally send such information to others, share them on social media, or save their own vaccination records to others’ LeaveHomeSafe app or vice versa.

The Government will continue to remind the public not to break the law by using others’ electronic vaccination records or fake vaccination records, he added.

Mr Sit also reiterated that the app does not require registration of any personal information and does not have a tracking function nor recording of users’ geographical location information.

He noted that the current arrangement is effective in striking a balance between the need for epidemic prevention and the public’s concern for personal privacy.

Meanwhile, Mr Sit said the Government has been liaising closely with Guangdong and Macau authorities about resuming normal cross-boundary activities in a gradual and orderly manner on the premise that the epidemic situation in the three places is under control and without posing additional public health risks.

Those who have completed recognised COVID-19 vaccination outside Hong Kong can present their vaccination records issued by the relevant local authorities to meet the requirements for shortening their compulsory quarantine period under the vaccine bubble arrangement.

Furthermore, he pointed out that the Food & Health Bureau has been studying the inclusion of vaccination records of Hong Kong citizens who have received their jabs outside Hong Kong, by way of declaration, to digitally input the records into the Government’s vaccination record database.

A QR code will be provided to them to facilitate their entry into catering or scheduled premises if required. By then, such people can use the LeaveHomeSafe app to scan the QR codes, and store their vaccination records and QR codes in their mobile phones.

In addition, Mr Sit stated that the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer is enhancing the functionality of the Hong Kong health code system in order to include the vaccination records stored in the Government’s vaccination record database.

In the future, the public can conveniently use the health code’s conversion function to submit the required information to enter Guangdong and Macau for the applications for their health codes.