Ink World staff09.14.20
Following the opening of the 2020-2021 season on Sept. 2, the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) announced that it had put in place a highly secured COVID-19 test verification system to ensure the health of players, sports staff and judges.
The system is provided in cooperation with laboratory network KDL and SICPA.
Every five days, the KDL will carry out regular COVID-19 tests in the cities where hockey games will take place – in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Finland and Latvia.
Test results will be ready in a maximum of 48 hours. The test data will be secured and made available for verification through the Certus myHealth Pass solution provided by SICPA.
CERTUS myHealth Pass provides guaranteed and secured proof of test status in both digital and material form. It protects against fraud thanks to a blockchain-secured digital seal, based on the Guardtime KSI Blockchain.
Test status data is revocable and thus always up-to-date.
It respects personal privacy concerns while providing incontrovertible assurances of health status to the sporting authorities.
The credential is authenticated by scanning a tamper-proof QR-code with a smartphone or a computer.
The verification is independent of the document issuer. No personal or sensitive information is stored, either directly or encrypted, in any database or on the blockchain and no extra-infrastructure is required.
The solution will permit near-normal programming for the season.
“The 2020-2021 season presented us with the crucial task of finding a way to ensure the safety and good health of players, club staff and referees," KHL VP Sergey Dobrokhvalov said. "The solution to the problem for KHL came through cooperation with the KDL network of laboratories. Supported by KDL we have accurate tests, with results received rapidly. This allows for the timely detection of any cases of COVID-19 infection and prevents further spread of the virus. This is the first fully secured system to be put in place in the professional sports sector to manage COVID-19 risks”
“We have been working on this scheme since late July to ensure it was up and running for the new KHL season," said Yuri Leonov CEO of the KDL medical network. "We are expecting that more than 100,000 COVID-19 tests will be performed this year by KDL labs for the sports industry and other clients. All test results will be protected by CERTUS technology.”
Added Eric Corbier, chief commercial officer of SICPA: “SICPA’s technology is tried and tested and provides much needed high security at this critical time. It is easy to use, portable and fully respects personal privacy concerns. We are delighted that it will be supporting the safe practice of this exciting sport and the Kontinental Hockey League”.
