As per recent updates, travellers may soon have to use COVID passport for their international trips, as the International Air Transport Association (IATA) is working towards launch the same, with an aim to offer an alternative option for the international commute.
The decision to launch a 'COVID passport' was taken after the announcement was made about three vaccines trials showed positive results, and with a motive to allow travel restrictions to be lifted, and help the tourism industry.
Reports state that the officials are working on a mobile app which would include COVID test reports, details about vaccination, travel experience, health results etc. and would be used as a digital passport linked to the current copy which provides the identity of the passenger.
IATA's currently used Timatic system will be connected with the COVID passport to verify passenger documents, register information, and function based on the travel and passenger detail like the destination, residence, country, etc. This system has been developed to stay in compliance with the border control rules and regulations, and IATA has confirmed that the app will not store data and would on block-chain technology.
Apple devices will be the first to get the COVID passport in the first few months of 2021, and this will shortly be followed by Android devices. Preliminary tests will be conducted with the test programmed with the International Airlines Group, which happens to be the parent company for British Airways. Reports state that passengers will have to use QR codes to share their data with the authorities during the travel
Besides this, IATA has appealed to the governments to ensure the safety of their staff on a priority basis by considering immediate vaccination for them whenever launched. In the recently held AGM, IATA has predicted a loss for both 2020 and 2021 respectively, and experts state that the air travel would continue to reduce in the following months, which could affect as many as 46 million jobs globally.
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