Gov't explains wristband activation

March 25, 2020

Government Chief Information Officer Victor Lam:
According to our information, the great majority of people returning to Hong Kong yesterday or before have already activated the app. So of course, some of them encountered some problems. The most common problem is that they may not have provided a correct phone number which can receive the SMS from us, say a local phone number or an international phone number which has a country code, an area code. If they do not input the correct number, the app cannot be activated. So, starting from two days ago, we sent an SMS to all these people who have not activated their app and the result is encouraging.

For example, yesterday the (number of) people who had successfully activated (the app) I think was more than 3,000. The number is still increasing, so we are confident that with the new hotline services, the email and SMS hotline, we’ll be able to clear most of these outstanding cases.

(To watch the full press briefing with sign language interpretation, click here.)

Government Chief Information Officer Victor Lam today said around 3,000 monitoring wristbands distributed to arrivals at Hong Kong International Airport to pair with the StayHomeSafe mobile app were activated yesterday.

During a press briefing on the latest COVID-19 situation, Mr Lam said the majority of people returning to Hong Kong yesterday or before that had already activated the app.

“Of course, some of them encountered some problems. The most common problem is that they may not have provided a correct phone number which can receive the SMS from us, say a local phone number or an international phone number which has a country code, an area code. If they do not input the correct number, the app cannot be activated.”

He added that the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer sent SMS messages to all those who had not activated their app.

"For example, yesterday the (number of) people who had successfully activated (the app) I think was more than 3,000. The number is still increasing, so we are confident that with the new hotline services, the email and SMS hotline, we will be able to clear most of the outstanding cases."