‘SELangkah’: Selangor unveils QR code framework for Covid-19 contact tracing

KUALA LUMPUR, May 4 — Selangor today rolled out a visitor registration system dubbed SELangkah: Langkah Masuk dengan Selamat to manage the spread of Covid-19 infection during the conditional movement control order (CMCO) period.

The system aims to support registered business or commercial premises owners by providing them with unique QR codes that can be placed on posters and scanned by visitors who enter their premises.

This enables businesses or private commercial premises as well as state government offices to keep track of their visitors via a digital log and allow for quick contact tracing by health authorities if one of the visitors test positive for Covid-19.

In a statement today, Selangor Mentri Besari Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said the framework will address the new norm of members of the public having to present their contact information before entering any premises as a means to help public health officials with contact tracing.

“Premise visitors are asked to scan the QR code posters, by using the camera function on their mobile phones, either before entering the premises or when making a payment, depending on the arrangement of the owner of the respective premises.

“The visitors’ logs of these premises will be regulated by the state government administration activated by a public health officer in the event of a Covid-19 incident reported on the premises (such as supermarkets, grocery stores, wholesale markets, and others). Through this initiative, all visitors to the premises can be reached and is easily contacted,’’ he said in a statement today.

Amirudin also stated that the digital approach could help boost efficiency as it does away with manual pen and paper registration.

For business owners who are interested in applying for their own QR code, they can do so by visiting the SELangkah official website at  selangkah.mbiselangor.com.my or selangkah.my, which will be available from May 5, 2020, onwards.

For private users, those with Apple products can use their cameras to scan the QR code while Android users are encouraged to download the Google Lens application to scan the codes.

Users will be required to provide their phone numbers after scanning the code and be able to show their pin or QR code when making payments or entering the premises depending on the arrangements of each respective premises.