Travel after COVID

Open borders and a lack of communication with doctors has resulted in confusion in many general practices about the documentation and testing requirements for people wanting to travel internationally, with some GPs worried that they might be held liable for acting out of ignorance.


People travelling overseas are not required to present a negative COVID test at check-in to meet Australian outbound requirements, but some countries and airlines still require the presentation of a pre-departure test result at check-in – which is where local GPs, who may be asked to certify that test, need to be clearly informed.

Of specific concern is that some people continue to test positive more than 30 days after recovering from COVID, due to a phenomenon called persistent shedding, where they may continue to test positive but are not infectious – can they still be certified?

Medical Forum spoke with Dr Bede Rogers who has called for clarity after he nearly refused to provide a medical certificate for a recovered patient who returned a positive COVID test before boarding a flight for the UK.

“She had booked a flight to England and needed a letter from me as certification and she presented as perfectly okay, physically she was completely well, but at the end of the consultation she tells me that she did her RAT today and it was still positive,” Dr Rogers shared.

“And I went, ‘Oh, that’s a bit of a problem, you better do a PCR just to double check that,’ which she did, which was also positive, and I said, ‘Well, you can’t fly, there’s no way I could certify you fit to fly.’

“But I was wrong. If she hadn’t done the research and I’d stopped the flight, it could have well ended up with me with the problem.”

While there are no clear, one-size-fits-all guidelines for other country’s entry requirements, the Australian regulations for inbound travellers can serve as a template for GPs to follow when providing certification.

If a person has recovered from COVID-19 within the last 30 days before their scheduled flight they do not have to undertake further COVID-19 testing before departure if they are able to provide a certificate from their medical practitioner at check-in.

Similarly, if a person had COVID-19 and recovered more than 30 days ago and continues to test positive, but is not infectious, they can fly if they provide the results of their accepted COVID-19 test and are able to provide a certificate from their medical practitioner at check-in.

The certificate must clearly include:

  • the day the certificate is provided (must be within 30 days of the flight)
  • a statement to the effect that the person has had COVID but is now recovered and is not considered to be infectious
  • the day when there was first a positive result of an accepted COVID-19 test for the coronavirus known as COVID-19 for the person
  • a statement to the effect that, on the day the certificate is provided:
    • it has been at least 7 days since there was a first positive result of an accepted COVID-19 test and
    • if the person had symptoms of COVID‑19 – the person has not had a fever, or respiratory symptoms of the COVID‑19, in the last 72 hours

Medical practitioners can find out more by visiting https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2022/01/coronavirus-covid-19-frequently-asked-questions-international-travellers.pdf