The East African Community (EAC) Secretariat, a regional intergovernmental organisation, is introducing a digital data tracking tool to ease cross-border movement disrupted by COVID-19 regulations.

The EACPass, which consolidates the COVID-19 test results of all travellers and passengers, thus easing turnaround times at border points, is being piloted in Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi, while the other partner states, Kenya, Tanzania and South Sudan, are finalising internal processes before beginning tests.

‘Harmonisation of COVID-19 charges and co-ordinated waiting time for COVID results is critical to facilitate business continuity and ease the cost of doing business,’ according to EAC secretary-general Peter Mathuki. The platform is integrated into the central depository laboratories of all six partner states as well as national accredited laboratories that are approved to conduct PCR COVID-19 tests for travellers.

Each laboratory will upload COVID-19 data to their respective repositories, and negative PCR tests for travellers are then automatically uploaded to the EACPass, which can be accessed digitally and be verified at all ports of entry and exit.

25 January 2021
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