The International Air Transport Association (IATA) urged governments to accelerate relaxation of travel restrictions as Covid-19 continues to evolve from the pandemic to endemic stage. IATA called for the removal of all travel barriers, including quarantine and testing, for those fully vaccinated with a WHO-approved vaccine.
It also requested enabling quarantine-free travel for non-vaccinated travelers with a negative pre-departure antigen test result as well as removing travel bans. It also asked for accelerating the easing of travel restrictions in recognition that travelers pose no greater risk for Covid-19 spread than already exists in the general population.
“With the experience of the Omicron variant, there is mounting scientific evidence and opinion opposing the targeting of travelers with restrictions and country bans to control the spread of Covid-19. The measures have not worked. Today, Omicron is present in all parts of the world. That’s why travel, with very few exceptions, does not increase the risk to general populations. The billions spent testing travelers would be far more effective if allocated to vaccine distribution or strengthening health care systems,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s director general.
A recently study published by Oxera and Edge Health demonstrated the extremely limited impact of travel restrictions on controlling the spread of Omicron. The study found that if the UK’s extra measures with respect to Omicron had been in place from the beginning of November, prior to the identification of the variant, the peak of the Omicron wave would have been delayed by just five days with 3 percent fewer cases. The absence of any testing measures for travelers would have seen the Omicron wave peak seven days earlier, with an overall 8 percent increase in cases. Now that Omicron is highly prevalent in the UK, if all travel testing requirements were removed, there would be no impact on Omicron case numbers or hospitalizations in the UK.
With respect to travel bans, the WHO Emergency Committee confirmed its recommendation to “lift or ease international traffic bans as they do not provide added value and continue to contribute to the economic and social stress experienced by member states. The failure of travel restrictions introduced after the detection and reporting of the Omicron variant to limit international spread of Omicron demonstrates the ineffectiveness of such measures over time.”
All indications point to Covid-19 becoming an endemic condition— one that humankind now has the tools, including vaccination and therapeutics, to live and travel with, bolstered by growing population immunity.
This aligns with the advice from public health experts to shift the policy focus from an individual’s health status toward policies focusing on population-wide protection. It is important that governments and the travel industry are well prepared for the transition and ready to remove the burden of measures that disrupt travel.
