Will you need immunity passport?

THE global economy has been severely disrupted by Covid-19, with the virus wreaking particular devastation on the travel industry.

While international travel will eventually return, either as governments start to bring infection rates under control or with the development of a vaccine, it is a waiting game that many airlines, tour operators and hotels are not willing to play.

In recent months, the idea of introducing digital immunity passports has begun to circulate as a potential lifeline to jumpstart international leisure travel.

“An immunity passport is a presentable proof of immunity to Covid-19,” Husayn Kassai, co-founder and CE of Onfido, a London-based technology company specialising in facial biometric certification, said.

“It is designed to help an individual prove that they have been tested and that their test result belongs to them, but without having to share any personal information.”

Immunity passports are currently being examined primarily for the benefit of frontline medical workers, allowing them to continue working safely with reduced risk of an outbreak in hospitals.

In April, Onfido was invited to submit a proposal for digital health certificates to the UK Parliament’s Science and Technology Committee. In their proposal, Onfido casts immunity passports as “the linchpin of a new normality”.

They would allow users to create a digital identity by uploading an official document (such as a passport or driver’s licence) along with a selfie taken on their phone, which would be verified using AI technology. The identity would then be paired with a certificate of immunity issued by a national health service.

The end result would be a code on their phone that could be scanned to enter workplaces, public buildings or even airports. Onfido would provide the technology to verify users’ identities, but it would be up to the UK government to securely manage the health data and introduce a system of testing for immunity.

Consideration of immunity passports in the UK is still in its early stages, with the British government examining submissions from other facial recognition and identity firms, such as Yoti, Nomidio and Berlin-based IDnow, as well as a range of medical experts and academics on the viability of an immunity-based scheme.

The jury is still out on whether the UK will formally adopt immunity passports, but the potential for such documents to accelerate re-opening parts of public life has caused similar proposals to pop up in Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Israel, Colombia, Argentina, Estonia and the United States.

Some of the earliest countries to be impacted by the virus have been quick to adopt health certificates, with China embracing the use of a health code app that shows whether a user is symptom-free in order to check into hotels or ride the subway, as reported by Reuters.

While not officially an immunity passport, the Chilean government has begun issuing “virus-free” certificates to citizens who have recovered from Covid-19, allowing them to return to work without restriction of movement.

Restoring travel is crucial for global economic recovery. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, in 2019, tourism contributed nearly US$9 trillion to the world’s GDP and accounted for 330 million jobs — roughly one in 10 jobs around the world.

However, for travel to fully recommence, governments will understandably require proof that people are not bringing Covid-19 with them. Presenting verified proof of immunity might become a requirement for passengers before airlines will allow them to board a flight, similar to a passport or visa.

John Holland-Kaye, CE of the UK’s busiest airport, Heathrow, has welcomed the introduction of an internationally recognised immunity passport, while acknowledging the success of such a scheme would depend on other countries adopting similar systems.

On a call with investors in April, CE of Delta Air Lines, Ed Bastian said he would “make whatever changes to the business model that will be necessary”, including adopting immunity passports if required by the US government.

Bastian pointed out how readily travellers adapted to new security regulations introduced by TSA and Home Security in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and said the most important thing for travellers is confidence their safety is being well managed.

Health certificates are also beginning to be trialled by hotels. Sidehide, a contactless online reservations platform, announced in May it would partner with Onfido to deliver a contactless booking system using immunity passports.

Users will be able to use a QR code to verify their immunity status and then book participating hotels directly through the app. Travellers check in on arrival via the app and can go straight to their room without any contact with hotel staff.

Perhaps the biggest hurdle standing in the way of the introduction of immunity passports is the scientific knowledge about Covid-19 itself. It is still unclear exactly how accurate antibody tests are, and when antibodies are detected, how long they remain in someone’s body.

There is also growing doubt about how long people who have been infected with Covid-19 remain immune to the disease.

There is some evidence to suggest that while antibodies can be detected in patients who have recovered from a severe case of Covid-19 for at least three months, a growing number of studies that show in milder case, the antibodies appear to rapidly decline from around three months after infection.

A further complication is that in some cases, Covid-19 patients have been shown to also carry and potentially spread the virus for up to three months after their recovery. In addition, the world’s first proven case of reinfection, with a different strain of Covid-19, has just been reported out of Hong Kong.

The sum total is that we are still grappling to understand the nature of immune responses to Covid-19 and it is too early to pin our hopes on serology testing. There are also concerns that immunity passports, which create a rubber-stamp of approval, may mislead the public as to the complexity of their immune status, resulting in them ignoring public health advice and increasing the risk of continued transmission. It could also create a perverse incentive for individuals to seek out infection in order to gain immunity and return to “normal life”. — BBC Online.