SoyaCincau
25 August 2020 by Nic Ker
Nowadays, walking into any establishment requires a quick QR scan with any modern smartphone, as part of contact tracing efforts due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, you might have noticed two QR codes available at certain outlets: MySejahtera and SELangkah. The former is the government’s contact tracing app, while the latter was announced as the Selangor state government’s QR-based tool.
However, the apps do not support cross-integration, which is why many retail outlets are choosing to display both QR codes. If you have the SELangkah app, you can scan the SELangkah QR code, or you can use the MySejahtera to scan the MySejahtera code. You can also use your camera’s default QR scanner, but that will still bring you to each platform’s site.
SELangkah app developer, Dr Helmi Zakariah, recently questioned the government’s reluctance to support integration between the MySejahtera app and other contact-tracing efforts in an interview with Code Blue. While Deputy Health Minister Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali has previously referred to “technical issues” as an obstacle to integration, Zakariah pointed to SELangkah’s recent integration with Maybank’s QR reader:
“In terms of our expertise and to benchmark our commitment security, I’d highlighted that we have integrated our service with Maybank2u; and as we know the financial sector has one of the highest requirements in data safety and privacy policy.”
“If we have managed to do that with Maybank, I don’t see what is stopping us for technical integration with any other providers. Despite this, our focus remains to cover the excluded segment of society so nobody would be left behind”
Unlike SElangkah’s contact tracing data, which is available to public health personnel in Selangor (and Kuala Lumpur), MySejahtera’s data is only available to seven people, as Code Blue reports. As such, health officials from the MoH need to use manual contact tracing methods to report cases to the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC)—who then access the data from MySejahtera to trace contact for positive COVID-19 cases.
Currently, SELangkah is already integrated with MidValley’s visitation QR code, along with the aforementioned partnership with Maybank. Do note that when scanning a SELangkah QR code with a Maybank QR scanner—or any generic QR reader—you’ll be brought to the SELangkah webpage. In fact, there’s also an SMS-based and card-based method introduced by SELangkah, known simply as Selangkad.
