On 1st of October the South Korean youth volunteer group ‘WE ARE ONE’ completed online blood donation applications for 71,121 volunteers for 24 hours to earn the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title for the challenge of Most people to sign up as blood donors online in 24 hours.
The 70,000 blood donors record was set to raise awareness of the importance of blood donation to overcome the blood shortage caused by COVID-19, was led by We Are One, which conducted the ‘Life ON Youth ON’ blood donation campaign.
Shortages of blood have impacted all countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Global Status Report on Blood Safety and Availability published by the WHO in June 2022. Also, the American Red Cross announced in January 2022, that US is facing a national blood crisis – its worst blood shortage in over a decade.
Using ‘Red Connect’, which is the official blood donation smartphone application of the Korean Red Cross, all the volunteers completed the application for blood donation within 24 hours from 8:00 am on October 1st to 8:00 am on October 2nd. This is about seven times the formerworld record of 10,217 (8 hours) held by India.
“It was possible not only because of the volunteers, but also the Korean Red Cross officials working at the forefront to solve the blood shortage, and the IT company that developed an efficient blood donation application system. In that sense it has great significance. I believe COVID-19 can be defeated when we are all one,” Mr. Junsu Hong, the head of WE ARE ONE, said.
Launched on July 30, 2022, WE ARE ONE has been conducting the ‘70,000 blood donation’ campaign since August 27. A total of 43,811 people completed the blood donation as of October 11th, and it is planned to complete the blood donation of 70,000 people by November.
aThe official record is accessible in the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ website. https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/714849-most-people-to-sign-up-as-blood-donors-online-in-24-hours
