Some South Australian businesses and venues will be required to make QR check-in available, with “certain activities” within venues linked to the presence of QR codes.

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From Tuesday, 1 December, South Australian hospitality venues will be required to provide QR code check-in, Premier Steven Marshall announced at a press conference today.

“This is great news as we move to further opening up our economy and creating and supporting jobs,” the Premier said.

The QR code system will be put in place in order to make information regarding the movement of people available for SA Health contact tracers in the event of a COVID-19 infection amongst the South Australian public.

“My CDCB (Communicable Disease Control Branch) team are so looking forward to having this, because what it means is if we do have another case, they can immediately… go straight to that database, instead of waiting until the next day to get hold of a business and to get those details.  It will really speed things up,” Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier said.

“The critical time is getting a positive test back and then being able to get hold of all of the close contacts and getting them into quarantine so they’re not passing the disease on further.”

Businesses with a COVID-safe plan will be emailed a new COVID-safe plan with a QR code attached, which can be printed and placed at the entry of a business or venue.

The public will then be able to scan the QR code through the mySA GOV app, which will be updated from 1 December with a QR code scanning function.

The mySA GOV app is being used so the information is centralised within a government application and is also verifiable.

Setting up an account on the app currently requires a South Australian driver’s licence and a vehicle registration form, but from 1 December this stipulation will be lifted to make the app more accessible.

“We do want it to be centralised within government, because we know that it’s a way that we can then verify the person,” the Premier said.

“We have seen in some other places in the world where people can go onto a QR code, they can register as Donald Duck and give a fake number, so we do want to make sure that we do have that information which is verifiable, but also verifiable to the contact tracing team 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

Premier Marshall said the information will only be made available to SA Health’s contact tracers, and he gave a “guarantee” the information will be deleted after 28 days.

Businesses will also be provided with a hardcopy way to take down information, should a person not have a mobile phone.

There was no information given at the press conference regarding what activities the QR check-in system will allow, but Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said he has discussed a system in which “certain activities” are linked to “the presence of QR codes”.

“So if you have the QR code, you’ll be able to do certain things that premises that don’t have [a QR code] will not be allowed to do, so that will create an incentive,” the Police Commissioner said

“As with everything, being that these will be mandatory in certain locations, we will give people time to get on board. We’ve done that with every single imposition that we’ve put to the community of South Australia, and we’ll work with the community to get that up and running as quickly as possible.”

South Australia’s Transition Committee will meet tomorrow to discuss the further easing of restrictions in South Australia, so CityMag expects more information to be available then on which businesses will be required to show QR codes and what activities might be linked to their presence.

“All of that detail will be worked through, but clearly those people that have COVID-safe plans, COVID management plans, they will be very clear who is going to require them,” the Premier said.

“But a rule of thumb is that those people who come into contact with people in the public – so whether that be a café, a pub, a club, a restaurant, a swimming centre, a sporting facility – these are facilities where we really want to know the movement of people around South Australia.”

Visit SA Health for more information relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. Visit our sister publication InDaily for news updates. If the COVID-19 news cycle is affecting your mental health and wellbeing, call the SA COVID-19 Mental Health Support Line on 1800 632 753.