The government's "exam" behind the health code

In 1986, German sociologist David Beck published the book Risk Society, in which he pointed out that human society today lives on a "volcano of civilization." He first proposed that modern society is essentially a risk society, and how to manage risks and make decisions under numerous uncertainties is a long-term proposition for urban governance.

The sudden outbreak of the new coronavirus epidemic this year is like a huge funnel, which has strictly screened politics/economy/culture/society/ecology, and what ultimately survives are the necessities of the times.

The virus is still spreading fiercely, and many countries overseas have lost their defenses one after another. Under the prosperous surface of super-cities, the hidden fragility and insecurity are gradually exposed. Soon, epidemic prevention and control has become a big test of the urban governance capabilities of many countries and regions.

We must focus on epidemic prevention on the one hand and resumption of work on the other. The hidden dangers brought by population mobility cannot be ignored. Confirming the qualifications for resumption of work and continuing to monitor the epidemic are top priorities.

The health code has become a new species during this period.

As a product "rushed" during the epidemic, the health code is a perfect improvement at the moment of prevention and control, and is also considered to be a new solution for upgrading the modern urban public health and medical system. Behind it is the sensitive sense of giant platforms such as Tencent and Alibaba, as well as the deep expectations for digital urban governance and the people's eager imagination of its future value.

We can't help but wonder: What does the health code mean? What role will it play in future urban governance? Will it just be a flash in the pan and then disappear?

With the "code" in hand, you can enter and exit without worry.

The health code is based on real data. Citizens or people returning to work can apply online and generate a personal QR code after background review. The QR code serves as an electronic certificate for individuals to enter and exit the local area, and one application can be used throughout the city.

It is reported that on February 9, Shenzhen became the first city in the country to "travel by code": comprehensive personnel access authentication management measures were implemented, and residents of various residential communities and urban villages were required to show their health codes when entering and leaving the communities.

For a time, the health code came into the public eye.

The documents at the time showed that all people living in various residential areas and urban villages in Shenzhen were required to voluntarily declare their personal information through platforms such as the WeChat mini-program "Shen i Ni" public account, and enter and exit the community based on the health code obtained, without the need to register again.

This means that if you want to pass through the security guards in residential areas, companies and parking lots without any obstacles, you must first learn to show this code: get it through the local epidemic service mini-programs or WeChat city services. It is worth mentioning that Alipay, which is owned by Alibaba, also launched the function of reporting health codes very early.

Is the health code just a simple replacement for a paper pass? No.

According to traditional practices, when people moved around during the epidemic, data collection in various places mainly relied on reporting by various units, which was a cumbersome procedure. Community personnel traveled with paper passes, which posed a risk of cross-infection. The introduction of the health code effectively solved two key problems: 1) the problem of asymmetric information such as individuals' contact history; 2) the problem of subjective unwillingness to disclose: the health code is a "must-have" for travel. Therefore, the health code has greatly improved the convenience of data collection.

It can be said that the health code is closely related to the severity of the epidemic. The severe anti-epidemic momentum in various places and the urgent need to resume work and production have driven the rapid popularity of the health code.

Why was there no such product during the SARS period 17 years ago?

The reason is not only that the domestic Internet platform had not been truly established at that time, and there was a lack of large-volume products, but also that the past decade has been a period of explosive growth for mobile terminal devices such as mobile phones. In addition, local governments have generally increased their acceptance of Internet information technology, which has provided soil for the popularization of health codes.

Behind Shenzhen's opening of the first 100 cities, Tencent played the role of a platform provider for the epidemic prevention health code. After all, the Tencent Health Code was independently developed by Tencent's government affairs team and is carried by the WeChat application, which has more than 1.1 billion monthly active users.

In addition, local epidemic service mini programs based on Tencent Cloud technology support are gradually upgrading the Tencent Health Code function. The advantage of the mini program is that it does not need to be downloaded and can be used immediately after opening, which greatly reduces the threshold for using Tencent's epidemic prevention health code.

According to data disclosed by all parties, Tencent's epidemic prevention and health code has been displayed by a total of 2.5 billion people. Nearly 20 provinces including Beijing, Guangdong, Sichuan, Yunnan, Tianjin, Guizhou, Shanghai, Chongqing, Heilongjiang, Guangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, and Qinghai have been launched online, covering more than 300 cities and counties including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan, and Fuzhou.

"Fighting the epidemic" is a race against time and a fight against old systems and old rules.

On January 23, the unprecedented Wuhan lockdown was officially launched. At that time, cases continued to increase across the country, panic continued to spread, and the city's large machinery experienced shortages of masks, protective clothing, and limited testing reagents.

For a time, cutting off the source of infection and finding suspected patients became the top priority. Drones were used to make announcements in the fields, villages were sealed off and roads were blocked, and people were quarantined at home and were allowed to go out once every two days. What government workers at all levels had to do was to do their best to block the flow and contact of people.

This will of course bring huge work pressure to the grassroots, and the grassroots staff are so busy that they are "overwhelmed". Insufficient staff, complicated procedures, too many forms, and incommunicable data have also given residents a very poor experience. You know, the bureaucratic reporting system and the many communication links between the levels make grassroots work quite difficult.

Regarding this phenomenon, Jing Genyuan, member of the Party Leadership Group and deputy director of Chongqing Big Data Development Bureau, said on February 19: Chongqing is in a critical period of epidemic prevention and control when people are returning and enterprises are resuming work. Active self-reporting and passive inspection of personal health status are important means of epidemic prevention and control at present, but in the investigation, there are problems such as multiple collections, multiple collections, and inconsistent data formats, which not only adds burden to grassroots staff, but also brings inconvenience to citizens' safe travel.

In order to give full play to the role of big data intelligent products in epidemic prevention work, the Chongqing Big Data Development Bureau, in conjunction with the Municipal Party Committee Political and Legal Affairs Commission and other departments, organized leading Internet companies such as Tencent and Alibaba to develop the Chongqing "Yukang Code" for free.

"All people who live in Chongqing and are managed by local villages (communities), as well as those who come to or return to Chongqing, can apply online or offline, and each citizen will have a code."

It can be seen that the emergence of the health code has realized flat social governance, reducing the burden on grassroots units and enabling citizens to travel safely through the form of public input - platform data verification - issuance of health codes - automatic statistical analysis.

The health code's application in the field of government services has given it a more complete vitality.

At present, there are many technical service providers in the government affairs market, including traditional IT manufacturers and new Internet manufacturers. However, as my country's urbanization process continues to accelerate, the number of megacities with a population of tens of millions is increasing, and more complex management needs have posed profound challenges to the shallow level of government affairs informatization.

In fact, many people still do not make a good distinction between the two concepts of informatization and intelligence. Many smart government operators are actually doing the most basic informatization work, extracting data from a certain area or scenario, but they are far from being called "smart", that is, they have entered the stage of using data for decision-making and execution.

In my country, the national informatization system generally has six elements: information resources, information infrastructure, information technology and industry, information security, informatization application and informatization talents. Urban informatization also revolves around these six levels.

To this day, many products and technologies advocated for urban development are still these core elements of the original information age, and ultimately have not escaped the original concepts.

However, during the epidemic, the government's demand for epidemic mini-programs and health codes, as well as the use of many AI temperature measurement technologies, fully demonstrated that the government's digitalization process has been upgraded from the earliest informatization to the intelligent stage.

In this process, unlike traditional IT manufacturers, the ability of Internet manufacturers to reach customers and grasp customer needs have become more important factors, allowing government services to be further upgraded. The core is to reverse the entire process and data interoperability with a people-centered approach.

Just like Tencent Health Code, it has formed a unified traffic entrance and launched versions for various cities according to local conditions. It is available in multiple languages ​​for easy use by foreigners in China. At the same time, the newly added "family agent" function also saves the elderly and children from the inconvenience of using mobile phones.

It is particularly noteworthy that based on the "National Integrated Government Service Platform Epidemic Prevention and Health Information Code Interface Standard", the National Government Service Platform launched a nationwide "Epidemic Prevention and Health Information Code" on February 29, which will gradually promote the interoperability of health codes across the country. Tencent is actively participating in promoting mutual trust and recognition.

Meeting people's needs and allowing businesses and individuals in the city to have a real sense of the city - this is also the key point of Tencent WeCity's future city solution.

At present, "WeCity Future City" is based on Tencent Cloud's basic products and capabilities, integrating its experience and achievements in the field of government affairs, providing solutions for digital government affairs, urban governance, urban decision-making, and industrial interconnection, and reaching users through tools such as WeChat and mini-programs. It has been implemented in cities such as Changsha and Wuhan.

Industry is the beneficiary of scientific and technological progress, while people's livelihood and government affairs are vital industrial forms in modern society. Over the years, new applications in the field of people's livelihood have been very active, while the field of government affairs is in urgent need of the injection of new technological power.

At this moment, the central government has made the final decision, and the "new infrastructure" has been entrusted with a mission and has been honored with honor. It has deservedly become an important tool in the tough battle of "stabilizing the economy."

The deep integration of technologies such as cloud computing, big data, 5G, AI, and industrial Internet has enhanced the overall planning of cities, connected the time and space of industrial Internet, and opened up the industrial chain, giving people's livelihood and government affairs the opportunity to achieve efficient collaboration.

As Tencent CSIG President Tang Daosheng mentioned:

"Traditional infrastructure solves the connection between objects and people. The construction of roads and airports brings prosperous business to the region. Digital new infrastructure solves the connection, interaction and processing of data. 5G, cloud, big data and artificial intelligence will bring greater space for industrial upgrading and promote the formation of new product services, new production systems and new business models."

Indeed, the epidemic will end, but the user demand stimulated during the epidemic will be retained and continued. The habits of online learning, online consultation and the use of health codes will continue to change people’s work and lifestyles, and promote further connectivity between the atoms of the physical world and the bits of the digital world.

In this process, the city as a living organism will gradually mature, and the government's urban governance will enter a new stage.