Health Passport South Africa aims to provide much needed support to help restart tourism, business, sports, events and job creation on a national level.
The Health Passport Worldwide system combines secure mobile technology with official COVID-19 tests and vaccinations. The user-friendly mobile app enables people to quickly and easily receive their test results, and also automatically delivers the certified documents directly to their mobile. This now provides great efficiencies for both the healthcare sector and the public alike. The overall platform only works with tests and vaccinations which are administered by medical professionals.
The system then becomes a bridge to the wider world, helping to open up travel, sports, events and businesses.
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The founders of the technology have put user privacy as a priority, because unlike some other mobile technologies, the Health Passport Worldwide app does not track people’s location, does not use Bluetooth, does not use GPS and does not monitor people’s usage of the system. Data is not shared with any third parties.
Health Passport South Africa launches with a flagship testing centre which is now open at The Lookout Waterfront in Cape Town, providing both PCR and Rapid Antigen tests. The advanced setup means that 275 people can easily be tested every hour. As demand increases, this can scale up overnight to 550 people per hour. Everyone can securely receive their results through the Health Passport app.
Health Passport is a great way to help get fans back in stands
Athletics superstar and 400m world record holder Wayde Van Niekerk attended the launch: “There is nothing like the feeling of having the crowd cheering you on, and I hope this will be possible for the Tokyo Games. Health Passport Worldwide is a great way to help get fans back in stands.”
The system has already been proven in South Africa, when in December last year, a live music event called Recharge 2020 was staged using the Health Passport tech. Ahead of the event, all attendees including staff and performers downloaded the mobile app. On the day of the event, everyone was tested using the latest rapid antigen tests that are already validated for use in South Africa. They were then safely scanned into the event to provide the lowest levels of risk possible.
Justin Van Wyk, CEO of Big Concerts said: “This was an important moment for the events industry which has been devastated by the pandemic. Using the Health Passport Worldwide platform allowed this event to proceed with the highest levels of risk mitigation, demonstrating the way forward for live events globally.”
As international travel and tourism has dropped by almost 90% in South Africa, the solution provides hope that a better year is coming ahead in 2021. With major sporting events planned, such as The British & Irish Lions Rugby Tour and the Cape Town Cycle Tour, the technology and the testing process now offers a potential solution to enable these major projects to continue.
Robert Quirke, Founder of Health Passport Worldwide said: “You can imagine that overnight a global tourism industry closed down, airports – like Cape Town International that sees 11 million passengers a year – shut down, and with a 90% drop in international traffic. This coupled with jobs losses that left families with no hope on the horizon for over a year, spurring the need to get life back on track again.”
