Is it time to open borders?

With the exception of China, where the first Covid-19 cases were identified in late 2019, every country closed its borders to international travel before introducing domestic restrictions. This made sense during the early phase of the pandemic, as countries tried to insulate themselves from a rapidly spreading virus.

Since then, countries that have managed to control community transmission have eased domestic restrictions at a faster rate than international ones. Even in countries still struggling to contain community spread, restrictions on domestic movements are nowhere near as stringent as those on international movements.

The policy asymmetry in the treatment of national and international movement is no longer justifiable, and narrowing it could deliver economic benefits without significantly raising health risks.

At present, most countries are disallowing…