Most countries in the gulf region may have stood their ground against the pandemic, backed by devices and health-tech solutions, but they aren't taking any chances in the aftermath. The UAE has been constantly monitoring infections globally to modify travel restrictions, and Saudi Arabia had also cancelled the annual hajj pilgrimage last year.

The kingdom which has even put limitations on the number of people at holy sites in the country this year, is also planning to make immunity mandatory for entering public spaces. Elevating its share of restrictions for domestic travel, Saudi Arabia will now bar people from boarding flights if they fail to prove immunity on the Tawakkalna health tracking app.

Aviation authorities in the kingdom have successfully linked the system, which electronically issues boarding passes to passengers flying within the country, to the government's monitoring platform. Thanks to this move, people will only be able to get on domestic flights if they are marked as fully vaccinated, immune by first dose or as recovered on the Tawakkalna app.

Those who are identified as having no prior record of an infection will also be cleared by the platform to travel within the kingdom. The norms follow the requirement for foreign travelers arriving in Saudi Arabia, to register their immunisation data before the trip.

Tawakkalna app is Saudi's version of UAE's Al Hosn app, designed to track covid infections at the peak of the pandemic last year. Further upgrades were introduced to convert it into a digital immunity passport for citizens, once vaccination gathered steam in the country.

Regional carriers like Emirates are also adopting apps, that provide them access to digitised health records, in order to clear travelers for boarding without having to carry PCR test results.

The country hosting Hajj with only 60,000 pilgrims this year, has introduced similar restrictions for the annual ritual, since only those with smart cards linked to smartphones will be allowed to participate.