CAPE TOWN -
With the continuous increase in infection rates globally having halted international travel and put a major strain on global tourism, Young Global Leaders (YGL) have proposed a CovidPass health passport to be used for future travel. Young Global Leaders is a World Economic Forum initiative.
Mustapha Mokass, who is one of the World Economic Forum’s YGL, said that the variety of testing regimes to validate the health of travellers is not enough to reassure tourists or health authorities.
He says the CovidPass will act as a health passport for travellers who are virus-free and could allow healthy travellers to avoid quarantine.
“CovidPass uses blockchain technology to store encrypted data from individual blood tests, allowing users to prove that they have tested negative for Covid-19,” read a statement by the World Economic Forum.
“Unlike contact tracing apps, CovidPass will not track users’ movements. Non-mandatory contact tracing apps have met with only limited success so far due to privacy concerns.
“The new health passport app promises to restore confidence to the travel industry, which has been badly hit by the pandemic. Global tourism shrank by 97 percent in April, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization.”
The app is due to launch in September and Mokass hopes it would become a standardised solution at airports, border agencies, hotels, sporting and concert venues.
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