The nonprofit initiative, called CommonPass, is backed by the World
Economic Forum and Swiss-based foundation The Commons Project. If
successful, it could persuade governments to ease the restrictions
and quarantines that have slammed air travel since the coronavirus
starting spreading across the globe.
The United flight from London Heathrow to Newark Liberty
International in New Jersey follows a pilot by Cathay Pacific
<0293.HK> this month, and other large airlines are also planning
international trials in November and December.
"The goal of these trials is to demonstrate to governments that they
can rely on someone getting tested in one country and present their
credentials in another country," Paul Meyer, chief executive of The
Commons Project, told Reuters.
Broad deployment is targeted for January, he said.
Volunteers on the United flight, which will be observed by the U.S
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will upload COVID-19
test results from a certified lab to their smartphones and complete
any required health screening questions to generate a verified QR
(quick response) code that airline staff and border officials can
scan.
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They will present the code, which can be printed for passengers without mobile
devices, before departing and on arrival.
The project aims to build a network of trusted labs and would rely on those
results and vaccination records to be certified across borders, replacing the
current method of sharing paper-based and easily falsified test results from
unknown labs.
The labs would verify a person's identity for the app, which is designed to
protect personal data and privacy, said Meyer, who is in a dialogue with
airlines and countries across the globe for the project.
"The model only works if countries agree to trust health data from other
countries," he said.
(Reporting by Tracy Rucinski; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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