Francis Ogwo
As a measure of maintaining fights against the ravaging COVID-19 at the airports, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has listed the criteria for the use of COVID-19 testing in air travel process.
According to a release by IATA’s Director General and CEO, Alexandre de Juniac, on Friday 14th June, 2020, which stated that if governments decides to adopt the COVID-19 testing for travellers coming in from countries considered as high risk, testing results must be made fast, be able to be conducted at scale, and operate to very high rates of accuracy.
It also added that testing must be cost-effective and not create an economic or logistical barrier to travel.
*IATA said the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) published Takeoff guidance, which is the global guidance for governments to follow in reconnecting their people and economies by air.* Takeoff outlined layers of measures to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 transmission during air travel and the risk of importation of COVID-19 via air travel.
Another useful layer of protection for travellers from high-risk countries is the technology for rapid point-of-care Polymerised Chain Reaction (PCR) testing, which potentially removes the need for more stringer and stricter measures such as quarantine, which is a major barrier to travel and the recovery of demand.
“Airlines are committed to reducing the risks of COVID-19 transmission via air travel and COVID-19 testing could play an important role. However, it must be implemented in line with ICAO’s global re-start guidance with the aim of facilitating travel.
“Speed, scale and accuracy are the most critical performance criteria for testing to be effectively incorporated into the travel process,” Alexandre de Juniac concluded.
Experts say the fear of a possible second wave of the coronavirus pandemic had swept across the world especially in Europe, sending many airlines into fear of opening their corridors to aid another spread.
This had led to debates on the best measures possible towards avoiding another session of spread of the deadly virus through the airways.
