Coronavirus: Beijing, fighting Omicron, adds identity info to transport passes to speed up checks of Covid-19 status

As it battles an Omicron outbreak, the city of Beijing plans to add identifying information to subway and bus cards by the end of the month, a move designed to speed up mandatory checks of Covid-19 status as the city’s 22 million citizens adjust to daily reality under China’s dynamic-zero Covid-19 policy. Beijing Municipal Administration and Communications Card Co (BMAC), the city government-owned developer of the transport pass, has urged passengers to “upgrade” their cards by adding identity numbers and phone numbers as a first step to integrate the transport passes with Covid-19 status information. The inclusion of the identifying…