Cambodia’s "Stop Covid" QR Code – a location and contact-tracing app designed to prevent the coronavirus spreading – has won the Global South Covid-19 Digital Innovation Challenge award from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a UN specialised agency for information and communication technologies (ICT).

The challenge, launched in June this year in collaboration with the UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), sought to identify scalable, innovative, digital solutions that will enable countries, societies, communities, institutions and individuals to deal with the effects of Covid-19.

The "Stop Covid" QR Code was developed by the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications and has been adopted by businesses and the general public all over the country.

“This is the first time the Kingdom of Cambodia has won the world-class award in the [ICT] sector.

"This is our great success proving that Cambodia – which is a developing country – is fully capable of developing digital programmes that are internationally recognised,” said the ministry.

“This QR Code system has now evolved into the so-called Stop QR Code Vaccine to scan vaccination cards for multiple purposes, for now and in the future,” the ministry said.

As the winner of this challenge, Cambodia is given $20,000 for use in strengthening the system. The Kingdom will also be invited to share knowledge and experiences with other countries as a role model, the ministry said.