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Stay-Safe QR code for state employees and those visiting Govt. offices
People visiting government offices and state sector employees will be required in the future to ‘check in’ by scanning the digital Quick Response (QR) code, using their smartphones to register with the ‘Stay Safe’ web-based portal, the President’s Office has directed.
In a circular signed by Presidential Secretary P.B. Jayasundera and titled ‘Combatting COVID-19 at National Level: ‘Stay Safe’ Digital Solution’, government departments heads have been instructed that the web-based solution is being implemented under the direction of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and they should use it at their premises.
Introduced by the Information and Communication Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), the ‘Stay Safe’ application was formulated to manage citizen movements digitally in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The application is designed to facilitate free movement of non-infected persons while engaging in contact tracing of the infected.
According to the circular, every government employee is required to register in the website (staysafe.gov.lk) and generate a poster with the organisation QR code dsplay at the entrance of the organisation for ‘Checking-in’ and ‘Check Out’.
Non-smartphone users can use the SMS version of the web solution before entering the organisation. When leaving the organisation, employees and visitors must check out by scanning the QR code once again. “All government organisations are responsible for checking- in and- out all employees and visitors,” the circular says.
The ICTA said those entering wrong information would be identified and strict legal action pursued. Officials with necessary clearance are able to access the information of the visitors to the organisation.
The circular also said it was mandatory for state sector employees to follow this procedure either by QR code or SMS service every time they enter or exit the work places.
The state digital agency assured that the personal data of the state staff and visitors would be stored on a secure government cloud and could be accessed only by authorised officials responding to COVID-19. It would not be shared with third parties.