Nortal is proud to develop a system together with ottonova, German service provider for digital health insurance and inHealth, UAE health data platform to facilitate smooth international travel during the global outbreak of COVID-19.
According to Taavi Einaste, CEO of Nortal in Germany and Partner of Nortal in Estonia, the COVID-19 outbreak has reshaped nearly every aspect of our daily life, work and habits within mere months. “Our solution aims to enable the responsible restart of travel worldwide by providing a secure and easy solution to validate a traveler’s COVID-19 status while putting the traveler in command of the data shared. Nortal has successfully launched cutting-edge digital health solutions in the UAE, Germany and Estonia, and can use this unique portfolio of experience to support the project,” adds Einaste.
The application matches the official immigration requirements of the traveler’s final destination with the individual health data from the user. Should users meet all requirements and test negative for COVID-19, they will receive a statement that will be accepted by both transportation providers, such as airlines or shipping operators, and immigration authorities to enter the country.
The solution minimizes preparation efforts for travelers and operationalizes the COVID-19 test status for the travel industry and immigration authorities. The technology is a crucial step to ensuring international travel can be accessible while still meeting strict protocols to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Dr. Roman Rittweger, CEO of ottonova, says, “The app is a cornerstone in bringing safe, international travel back to life. By using simple and highly secure technological infrastructures and standardized APIs, we can connect travelers with airlines, immigration authorities and health testing facilities from all over the world in one go. At ottonova, we have a wealth of experience in supporting our customers with digital solutions that are safe and GDPR-compliant. We want to help them easily use their health data to navigate their travel needs during these unprecedented times.”
How does the app work?
In six simple steps, the traveler can receive a certificate that allows them to enter their travel destination.
The same procedure accounts for any other kind of vessel such as ferry or train services.
Using existing technologies for international business and leisure travel
At the core of the solution, called Corona Travel App by the project team, is decentralized storage of data controlled by the traveler and certified testing data stored by accredited testing facilities. Airlines and immigration authorities can only access the data through the receipt of a digital token, generated and controlled by the traveler who can define how long and how much data third parties can access — making the app highly secure and simple.
According to Ramzi Rahal, CEO at inHealth, the exchange of related health information across borders is essential to smoothen travelers’ journeys in this fluid global situation. “At inHealth, we seek to exchange and deliver health related information at the right time to the right place, with the concern of an individual’s wellbeing lying at the center of our services. We are motivated to collaborate with our global partners and fight COVID-19, helping to contribute to the recovery of the travel industry through the exchange of related health information with the medical industry,” adds Rahal.
The system is designed to complement already existing individual solutions to track and reduce the spread of COVID-19 locally. While nation-wide approaches often include tracking, this proposed solution only focuses on sharing approved health data, and not sharing location data. The data is only available to third parties for a limited period of time, depending on the requirements of the country of arrival, and shall be deleted afterwards.
The solution will be available for use shortly. In parallel, the partners are in discussions with government’s officials and international companies to implement the solution. Further stakeholders are invited to join discussions about use cases and possible partnership structures.
