Apart from a high level of testing which enables their countries to know who is, or was, infected, the three countries being raised as a good example of handling the COVID 19 pandemic have one thing in common: a national ID system.
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In a 2013 Vietnam news article, the Vietnamese government imposed it to reduce expenses owing to lesser forms to fill out for administrative procedures.(https://vietnamnews.vn/society/237454/national-id-number-for-all-vietnamese-by-2020.html)
In Singapores case, the national ID is required for all those aged 15 and up and will be the basic identity required for most transactions.
For south Korea, the national ID system has been in place since the 1960s and expects an upgrade to mobile platforms.
In these three countries, the national ID system is instrumental in testing and monitoring those infected, tracing their contacts and defining clusters to enable health and security authorities to assert control.
In the Philippines a national ID system is mandated by law. Is it time to “ramp up” its implementation?
Photo: Wikimedia commons.
(This article first appeared on April 11, 2020 at Resurgent.PH)
The Ranao Star 