University develops QR code for passenger health information

Bartomeu Alorda, professor of electronic technology, says that information about passengers is needed before it will be possible to reopen ports and airports. To avoid the need for testing or quarantine, the code will validate that passengers have health certification from their countries of origin and indicate that they are free of coronavirus. This information could be read by an application on arrival.

Alorda adds that airlines could communicate information about passengers with QR codes before planes arrive. Airports of origin and destination could therefore share the information.

There is the possibility that visitors become infected during their stays. For this, there would be a mechanism to update the health information contained by the code so that visitors would be advised to return home. The code could be carried in a variety of ways, such as on a phone, a digital watch or health card.

The university's development is an extension of ShareEQR, which was patented in 2017 and was endorsed by a simulation exercise in that year for passengers arriving on a cruise ship on which an infection had broken out.