BUSINESSES UTILIZE APP READER

[Anchor Lead]

Although business curfew has been extended to 10 p.m., small businesses still struggle to make ends meet. They are demanding that business restrictions be lifted altogether and promising to use special apps that notify of coronavirus infections.

[Pkg]

When a person who is not infected with COVID-19 enters this office in Seoul, the smartphone screen turns green. This IT company is testing a mobile phone app in a dry run to alert those who came in contact with a virus patient. For people who are free of COVID-19, the screen is marked green. For those who have come into contact with the infected, it turns blue. When people infected with the coronavirus enter, the screen turns red. An app reader is first set up at public facilities like cafes and convenience stores and visitor movement is recorded. Meanwhile, at public health centers, the status of an infected person can be updated. All visitors can subsequently check if they came into contact with a virus patient.

[Soundbite] Ahn Kyung-hoon(CEO at coronavirus app developing company) : "When the GPS method is used, too many people who have not come into direct contact with the infected person can be classified as contacts. The QR and handwritten logs are also good, but they can only provide entry information."

Some 50,000 facilities have installed the app reader so far. As many as two million small businesses plan to follow suit. Local governments are also searching for ways to trace contacts with the infected early on. The Seoul Metropolitan Government has released an app notifying users if their movements overlap with those of the infected using public transportation data. And the government of Gyeonggi-do Province has also launched a service notifying the public of how vulnerable they are left in case of contact. Small businesses say that once these apps become more widely used, business restrictions could be eased.

[Soundbite] Park In-bok(Korea Small Business Association) : "The results of eased restrictions on small businesses such as restaurants will appear soon."

However, privacy concerns and limitations remain, as all visitors would need to download these apps for the new system to work effectively.