News Flash: COVID-19 Crisis Drives Digital ID Adoption

Digital ID solutions help governments and businesses respond to the pandemic

State governments in India are adapting real-time digital identification mechanisms to monitor compliance with quarantines arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report by The Economic Times. The state of Telangana, for example, is requiring people under quarantine to take a ‘selfie’ with their smartphone that is time–stamped with the handset’s location.

Meanwhile, the Jamaican government is looking to fast track the rollout of its National Identification System to help it dispense aid in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, according to a report by the Jamaica Information Service. At a press conference, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said: “We are going to move as quickly as possible within the boundaries of the law and constitution to ensure that every citizen of Jamaica has a unique identifier that will be able to ensure that whatever benefits that come from the government will go directly to them.”

In South Korea, the government is also looking to accelerate the adoption of digital identification and electronic certificates. In response, the country’s three mobile operators – KT, SK Telecom and LG Uplus – are expanding digital verification services that enable users to log into various websites just using their mobile phone number, according to a report by Pulse News.

In a blog post, Alan Goode of Goode Intelligence, said he now anticipates the number of digital identity verification checks made in 2020 around the world will be 15 to 20 per cent higher than the 704 million he predicted in May 2019.  As a result of the COVID-19 crisis businesses are “increasingly reliant on remote technology to verify identity and to quickly onboard people to digital services,” he wrote.

To read the Economic Times article click here, the Jamaica Information Service article click here, the Pulse News article click here and the Goode Intelligence blog post here.