Checkpoints have been established around Metro Manila and across the country in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the enhanced community quarantine. However, there is a bit of a problem with these checkpoints: inevitable person-to-person contact between frontliners, which happens whenever security personnel need to verify the identity of our healthcare workers. This is a problem that the Inter-Agency Task Force of Emerging Infectious Diseases wishes to address using RapidPassPH, a new software that will be rolled out today, April 3. Plus, the service is entirely free.
RapidPassPH makes use of unique and secure QR codes that will be given to our healthcare workers upon application. Personnel at checkpoints may then use QR code scanners for verification of said healthcare workers’ identities—ensuring social distancing measures between our frontliners by eliminating the need for IDs and other corresponding documents.
Healthcare workers may apply through the RapidPassPH website, and once their applications are approved, they will each be given QR codes with corresponding control numbers. These generated QR codes can be printed out or displayed through a smartphone which can then be shown to the security personnel at checkpoints. For those who have neither a smartphone nor printer available, they may instead present their control number along with a valid ID.
The project is an initiative of the task force in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology. The department tapped Developers Connect—a nationwide community of Filipino developers and IT professionals—to develop RapidPassPH, said Fortunato de la Peña, Department of Science and Technology Secretary in a Facebook post.
Developers Connect (DevCon) formed DCTc, a global volunteer team comprised of over 500 Filipino developers. DCTc created RapidPassPH free of charge, and is releasing it as an open-source software so that anyone in the world will be able to utilize the technology. The official launch of RapidPassPH is on April 3, after which medical personnel may start filing their applications.
This story originally appeared on Topgear.com.ph. Minor edits have been made by the editors.