The Tokyo metropolitan government plans to introduce a system by the end of the month in which visitors to event venues and other locations will be notified via email or other means if novel coronavirus infection cases are confirmed at places where they were present, according to sources.
The envisaged system would help prevent the spread of the virus by notifying people potentially exposed and urging them to immediately seek the consultation of a doctor. The Osaka prefectural government has already initiated a similar tracing system.
The metropolitan government plans to launch a system tentatively called "Novel coronavirus watchout service."
Those who want to use the service must register their contact information via smartphones or other devices with QR codes issued for specific venues and commercial facilities. If any visitors to those venues and facilities test positive for the virus, the metropolitan government would use email or other means to inform users whose trips to those locations overlap the timeframe with anyone infected.
This service is expected to be available at movie theaters, commercial facilities and indoor event venues, among other locations that draw a large numbers of visitors.
The central government is also working to develop a smartphone app that will individually inform users who were potentially exposed to virus carriers -- or people who had close contact with those infected -- by using the short-range wireless communication technology called "Bluetooth."
The metropolitan government intends to use its own methods in conjunction with this system to prevent cluster infections by monitoring the spread of the virus in Tokyo.
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