On March 28, Indonesia proposed standardizing COVID-19-related health requirements for travel to members of the Group of 20 major economies (G20). According to Setiaji Setiaji, an assistant to the Indonesian Ministry of Health, this proposal includes the creation of a global website capable of checking the vaccination status of travelers. Indonesia’s proposal would also comply with the health regulations of every G20 member country regarding COVID-19 vaccines and tests. All G20 member states support the program except for China, which is withholding support for “technical reasons,” Setiji claimed.
“Everyone on this earth who travels … can do it more efficiently,” Indonesia’s Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadkin stated, when speaking at a press conference at a G20 health meeting in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. “[A standardized COVID-19 vaccination and test certification system] Garrett Meehl, Head of the World Health Organization’s Digital Health Technology Unit, made it clear about Indonesia’s proposal that it would work in another country and be reliable and verifiable… At the moment, that’s a challenge.
Indonesia previously indicated its desire to liberalize travel by removing quarantine requirements for foreign travelers, a move that follows similar cancellations by Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia. Universally applied standardized measures, such as vaccination and testing requirements, allow people to travel more efficiently and avoid cumbersome quarantine procedures. Indonesia’s proposal should be implemented because of the effects it will have on economic growth and the prevention of COVID-19. Easier travel allows countries with tourist economies to restore their main source of income while keeping their population safe from the spread of COVID-19 because they will be able to confirm the tourists’ vaccination status. While implementing this type of system will present difficulties due to the universality required to be successful, starting with the G20 countries is a good first step and is likely to demonstrate to the rest of the world the economic and health benefits of standardizing the health requirements for travel.
Travel restrictions due to COVID-19 have been in place since the virus first spread in early 2020. The effects of these restrictions and the health effects of the virus have been severe, with the International Monetary Fund estimating that average global GDP is down 3.9% from 2019 to year 2020 and COVID-19 deaths have crossed the 6 million mark globally. The tourism industry has been particularly hard hit by travel restrictions, as its share of global GDP fell from 10.4% to 5.5% from 2019 to 2020. Although the spread of Omicron and other COVID-19 variables delayed plans to reopen and reduce restrictions, countries such as where Singapore, South Korea and Japan have begun lifting restrictions to reopen their countries to travel as infections stabilize and, in some cases, decline.
The destabilizing effects of COVID-19 have forced countries to close their borders and impose strict lockdowns for fear of spreading infection. As global vaccination rates continue to rise and knowledge about virus prevention spreads, it is imperative that countries lift travel restrictions and make it easier to share tourists’ vaccination cases with each other. While COVID-19 is a deadly virus, the effects of travel restriction are also proving devastating to economies that rely heavily on the tourism industry. Providing uniform health requirements for travel between G20 countries is a good first step to reopening these economies and keeping travelers and countries safe.
