Health kits should be above suspicion

Customers of several rural banks in Henan province－whose largest shareholder is under criminal investigation for allegedly collecting public funds illegally－recently failed to draw cash.

Some of the bank's customers who live outside Henan arrived in the province on Monday to lodge a complaint. However, the moment they entered the province, their provincial health kit, which shows if they have been to any high-risk area over the past 14 days, instantly turned red, barring them from taking any public transport or entering any public place in Henan province. Instead, they had to report to local authorities for quarantining. Most of the customers said they had not been to any high-risk area over the past 14 days.

Interestingly, some travelers who had arrived in Henan to deposit cash faced no problems with their health code.

Those whose health code had turned red called up the government health hotline in Henan but nobody seemed to know which department was responsible for turning their code red. And the moment they left Henan, their health codes turned green.

Health codes should faithfully reflect one's travel history. There should be no room for tampering with them.

Besides, the health kits collect personal information, which citizens have consented to share because of the specific condition of the pandemic. As the curator of such personal information, it is the responsibility of the health kit companies to keep them secure. If a citizen's personal data gets altered illegally it would be disastrous for the company's, as well as the local government's, credibility.

Some of the depositors fear the rural banks had a hand in turning their health code red illegally. There is no evidence of that yet, but the government in Henan should launch a probe to clear the air.