Covid-19 ‘passport’ pilot results submitted to health authorities

Mobile Covid-19 Passpilot for evaluating rapid tests in private and business areas

A mobile "passport" that a person can use to view their Covid-19 status is currently being tested. The Ministry of Health and the Health Service Executive (HSE) were given details of a national pilot of the first phase.

The pilot program, entitled Health Passport Ireland, aims to examine how clinically validated rapid test systems can be used with mobile technology.

The digital platform pilot monitored thousands of free rapid tests as part of the trial.

The pilot was launched two months ago. Participants so far have included nursing homes, a school, businesses, a hotel and residents of an entire village in Roscommon.

Several positive pieces of evidence of Covid-19 were confirmed using rapid test technologies during the trial.

The official summary report highlighted the progress of the first phase of the pilot project that had led to the detection of Covid-19 – through rapid tests – in asymptomatic individuals. In all previous cases, the tested participants had reported no symptoms and were asymptomatic, which prevented further transmission.

In each case, pilot participants, most of whom are employees, were invited to be tested weekly or bi-weekly by the Health Passport Ireland clinical team. After the test, they had immediate access to their personal Covid-19 status via a direct link to their latest test and could view or scan it if necessary.

When the validity of the test expires, a reminder will be sent and the Covid-19 status shown on your "Passport" will turn yellow.

"Health Passport Ireland" is designed for all official and validated Covid-19 test types.

The ROQU Group, which set up the mobile passport system, pays the costs for the test program.

Chief Executive Officer Robert Quirke said the Health Passport system worked precisely in line with their goals and expectations on all positive discoveries, delivering results for individuals within 15 minutes.