Travel in times of pandemic.
One of the most normal things in the world has become a rather more difficult undertaking this year: Flying. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, you couldn't simply fly to the country you wanted to, as there were repeated lockdowns, border closures and tough controls. To make one of everyone's favorite pastimes - traveling - a little easier again in the future, experts have been working for months on a way to achieve this. The International Air Transport Association (IATA for short) claims to have found a solution. The association has developed a health app that allows us to fly safely.
IATA is currently working on a travel passport that could look something like a health passport. This should allow us to fly around the world again and comply with all health and safety regulations. "To reopen borders without mandatory quarantine and reopen air travel, governments need to be sure that they can mitigate the risk of importing coronavirus infections", according to a statement from IATA. "This means that accurate information is needed on the health status of passengers with regard to Covid-19."
And this is exactly where the digital travel pass comes in. The app can be used to simplify the flow of information between travelers, governments, airlines and laboratories. Passengers can use it to find out about the coronavirus measures in force in the country they want to travel to. The app is also designed to find the closest laboratory where travelers can carry out a corona test. The laboratories can then immediately upload the test result to the app so that holidaymakers can also present a reliable and up-to-date status of their health.
The health app is expected to launch before the end of 2020 and be available for both iOS and Android operating systems in 2021.
Picture Credit: Hans Ripa / Unsplash
