Personal information collected for epidemic prevention and disease prevention shall not be used for other purposes.

In order to protect personal information in joint prevention and control in novel coronavirus and actively use big data including personal information to support joint prevention and control, the Central Network Information Office issued the Notice on Doing a Good Job in Personal Information Protection and Using Big Data to Support Joint Prevention and Control on the 9th, making it clear that personal information collected for epidemic prevention and disease prevention and control shall not be used for other purposes. Without the consent of the person being collected, no unit or individual may disclose personal information such as name, age and ID number.

In order to protect personal information in joint prevention and control in novel coronavirus and actively use big data including personal information to support joint prevention and control, the Central Network Information Office issued the Notice on Doing a Good Job in Personal Information Protection and Using Big Data to Support Joint Prevention and Control on the 9th, making it clear that personal information collected for epidemic prevention and disease prevention and control shall not be used for other purposes. Without the consent of the person being collected, no unit or individual may disclose personal information such as name, age and ID number.

The circular requires that all localities and departments should attach great importance to the protection of personal information, and no unit or individual may collect and use personal information on the grounds of epidemic prevention and prevention, except for institutions authorized by the health department of the State Council according to the Cyber Security Law of the People's Republic of China, the Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases of People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Emergency Regulations for Public Health Emergencies. Where laws and administrative regulations provide otherwise, such provisions shall prevail.

Personal information collection necessary for joint prevention and control should refer to the national standard personal information safety specification, adhere to the principle of minimum scope, and the collection targets should be limited to key groups such as confirmed patients, suspected patients and close contacts, and generally not targeted at all people in a specific area to prevent de facto discrimination against people in a specific area.

The Notice clarifies that personal information collected for epidemic prevention and disease prevention shall not be used for other purposes. No unit or individual may disclose personal information such as name, age, ID number, telephone number and home address. Without the consent of the person being collected, except for joint defense and desensitization. Institutions that collect or hold personal information shall be responsible for the safety protection of personal information and take strict management and technical protection measures to prevent it from being stolen or leaked.

According to the notice, capable enterprises are encouraged to actively use big data to analyze and predict the flow of key populations such as confirmed patients, suspected patients and close contacts under the guidance of relevant departments, so as to provide big data support for joint prevention and control.

In addition, the notice also pointed out that any organization or individual who finds illegal collection, use or disclosure of personal information can report it to the online letter and the public security department in time. The network information department should promptly deal with illegal collection, use and disclosure of personal information and incidents that cause a large number of personal information disclosure in accordance with the network security law and relevant regulations; Public security organs should severely crack down on cases involving crimes according to law.