Whilst governments are focused on the immediate priorities of managing the respective health systems they are also having to keep a very close fiscal eye on what could be an economic collapse. At country level they can still keep borders closed, but how do you manage movement of citizens within your own country. How do health officials manage movement through internal regional borders?

I'm in lockdown in Spain. I've been here since early 2020 and to make things even more frustrating I'm also landlocked due to travel restrictions. Prior to this crisis I like many other businesses had what looked like a very promising pipeline of consulting work to see me and my family through for the next 12 months.

"The UK economy is forecast to fall an incredible amount in the current pandemic-afflicted quarter ending in June 2020"

The forecast comes from the projections of more than a dozen top economists, who are surveyed every month by the Treasury, and were contacted by the BBC. While the same economists predict a similarly large positive rebound after that, this year, annual UK GDP is still anticipated to fall significantly. While there is no precedent for shutdowns of large swathes of the economy, 14 of the top economists from the City and business have calculated how much economic activity is being lost. source BBC

For further context around this blog is that I own a couple of 6 year old start-up marketing technology businesses. As we chose to 'boot strap' (self fund) these companies we took a longer route to market ahead of engaging in any external investment discussions. This was further impacted in 2018 when I was diagnosed with a form of cancer which meant I was out of action for over 6-8 months. I'm delighted to say I'm now fully recovered and for obvious reasons I'm also a huge fan of our NHS, and like many others in the business world I definitely can't wait for many of us to get back to whatever flavour of work we do.

So, It was of great interest to the 'transformation consultant' in me when I started to monitor people's behaviour before and during lockdown. I have become fascinated at the challenges countries around the world are facing as lockdown restrictions are eased in China and other EU Countries. It's clear that citizens and businesses wonder how they will exit from this nightmare?

Governments and health authorities around the world are asking businesses to repurpose their production lines and supply chains as they try to close the huge gap between the number of ventilators that will be required, and the numbers currently available. Whilst Governments around the world are still focused on containment and quarantine of populations the increasing burden on the global economy is now becoming a very real threat to a worldwide recession.

Without a doubt this crisis has impacted health and economies of people and businesses around the world.

What we do know is that no country can afford to ease those restrictions unilaterally otherwise the pandemic will simply kick start again. Without a doubt this now has to be a sustainable and manageable focus and priority for every country, but it does have several challenges particularly as many people simply can't just work from home.

So, what's needed is something that's focused on 'proactive' advice and validation for returning back into society. Anything that can help with speeding up the process of getting critical care key workers and frontline staff back into hospitals and other critical health care facilities is the first priority – followed by other key workers until whole economies are back to normal.

What's needed is a digital pass that gets key workers in the police, fire and ambulance services and the military back to full operational duties quickly and effectively with confidence. A solution that works in tandem with any test or testing process to relieve the pressure on health and emergency services while minimising risk.

As such we have decided to pivot our technology and collaborate with 2 other technology platforms to deliver such a solution as follows;

1) Validate health & blue light workers a safe and speedy return to frontline work.

2) Monitor & Manage citizens movement to enable a controlled & safer exit from lockdown.

3) Inform & Educate citizens with related content.

We did our pivot - We look to launch in 3 countries in the next few weeks.

All I can say at this stage is 'watch this space'.