PHNOM PENH, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's "Stop COVID QR Code," a location and contact-tracing app designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19, has won the Global South COVID-19 Digital Innovation Challenge award from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the country's Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MPTC) said in a press statement on Sunday.
The Global South COVID-19 Digital Innovation Challenge, launched in June in collaboration with the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), sought to identify scalable, innovative and digital solutions that will enable countries, societies, communities, institutions and individuals from the Global South to deal with the cascading effects of the pandemic.
Developed by the MPTC and launched in February, the "Stop COVID QR Code" combines three main functions including contact-tracing, quarantine control and vaccination status, the statement said.
"This is the first time that the Kingdom of Cambodia has won a world-class award in the field of telecommunications and digital technology," the statement said.
"It's a great success which is a testament to the fact that Cambodia, a developing country, has enough capacity to develop an internationally recognized digital application," it added.
The ITU received over 250 challenge applications from across the globe and the award was given to Cambodia on Friday, the statement said, adding that as the winner, Cambodia received 20,000 U.S. dollars for use in expanding the system and will be invited to an ITU-organized training program to share the kingdom's knowledge and experience with other countries. Enditem
