The government’s measure to ease the citywide lockdown reached the second phase on Sunday (17 May), which includes the reopening of shopping malls across the country. Mall-goers have experienced one of the most evident “new normal” shopping phenomena—checking "in" and "out" on the government’s authorized contact tracing platform is a must to enter shopping premises.
The government has rolled out the contact tracing website Thai Chana, which translates to “Thailand wins”, which could be taken from Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha infamous statement “Thailand must win” during a live national television broadcast about the coronavirus pandemic in March. The platform requires businesses to register on the website and provide information such as the maximum capacity of customers and the area of the shop, while customers must scan QR code at each premise and provide their telephone number to the platform provider. You are asked to write down your name and phone number if you don't have your phone with you.
Customers will also be asked to complete a survey on whether the business imposed required measures to prevent COVID-19 infection.
Contact tracing has become a popular method of choice for governments to monitor the movement of their people and track the recent contact of anyone with the virus. When someone is infected, the people that have been in contact will be traced down and alerted to self-isolate and test for the virus. The method has been proven to be useful in countries like South Korea.
According to the daily COVID-19 situation briefing, Taweesilp Wisanuyothin, spokesperson for Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration, revealed that 2,658,754 check-ins were made nation-wide on 17 May, with 37% in Bangkok.
However, little is still known about the Thai Chana website. Many questions are waited to be answered by the authorities, such as whether registration to the platform is compulsory for every business in the country. Sarinee Acahvanuntakul, an independent scholar and economist, is one of many who question Thai Chana on the transparency and credibility of the platform as little information is provided on Thai Chana website.
Dr. Polawat Witoolkollachit, inspector-general of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, later ensured the public about the safety and the concern for privacy on 17 May. Yet, little technical detail was given during the briefing.