Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 20) — The government is in talks with airlines about the use of electronic arrival cards and boarding passes for international passengers to fast track contact tracing and minimize physical contact, the Bureau of Immigration announced on Wednesday.
“The BI is discussing with different airlines the mechanics and procedures for implementing the said initiatives so these could become operational as soon as possible,” Immigration chief Jaime Morente said in a statement.
For his part, BI Port Operations Division chief Grifton Medina said, “Should information be needed for contact tracing, we wouldn’t have to manually dig into boxes of arrival cards which take up precious time. With one click, we would be able to provide the data faster to contact tracers.”
Medina said under the new system, airlines can simply scan unique QR codes from a passenger’s device to check-in.
“This will create a fully paperless transaction during immigration assessment, reduce the risk of transmission, and allow for more efficient monitoring,” he said.
The safety measures are all part of the “new normal” in air travel.
Some local airlines have suspended flights until May 31, due to the government-ordered lockdown.
