Digital health passport on horizon, Bartlett predicts

WESTERN BUREAU:

Spurred by concerns arising from the coronavirus pandemic, travellers criss-crossing the global might require a digital health passport to enter foreign ports, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett has forecast.

“I think the world is going there, nobody is there yet, but I can tell you that there is a lot of work going on between airlines, ourselves, and (other) countries,” said Bartlett during a recent meeting of the Rotary Club of Montego Bay.

The tourism minister was responding to questions on whether Jamaica would join other countries in requiring COVID-19 vaccination cards for visitors.

The rationale for the health passport is to digitise entry requirements and to build out a single database with travellers’ profiles. That content will include test results, vaccination data, and insurance subscription, among other things.

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has ordered that all air passengers arriving in the United States present a negative COVID-19 result no older than three days before entry. The stipulation took effect on January 26.

“These developments come as no surprise given the growing global trend of increasing testing requirements before travel and generally as a means of curbing the spread of COVID-19,” Bartlett told The Gleaner in an interview last month.

Bartlett said that although the digital health passport was not yet a requirement, Jamaica’s Ministry of Tourism was ahead of the curve through the use of advanced technology. He said that travellers would seamlessly pass through immigration and be granted quick passage.

“That’s where technology is taking us, and your minister and Jamaica are on top of that game,” said Bartlett.

– Albert Ferguson