More than a million European citizens have obtained "EU COVID digital certificate" since seven EU Member States have started issuing the document, on June 1. Also on June 7 both Spain and Elvetia have started using the certificate, and by the end of this week, Lithuania will join the list.
The figures were revealed by EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders ahead of yesterday's vote in Parliament on the certificate, during which - in plenary - the regulation on the "EU COVID Digital Certificate" was approved by 546 votes to 93. and 51 abstentions. He pointed out that, so far, more than one million Europeans have received the "EU COVID Digital Certificate".
More than one million European citizens have obtained the "EU COVID Digital Certificate".
The "EU COVID Digital Certificate" was created by the EU in an attempt to restore freedom of travel in Europe, which has been stopped for more than a year since the pandemic erupted around the world. Until the present, the certificates are issued by nine countries - Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Poland and Spain. The rest of the countries are technically ready to connect to the EUDCC gateaway, with the exception of Finland, Hungary, Malta, Switzerland and Norway, which are in the testing phase.
The document will be issued for three categories of people:
- Vaccinated persons (with one or two doses)
- Those who recovered from the virus
- Those with a negative COVID-19 test result
Further commenting on the number of certificates issued so far, Commissioner Reynders said that the more countries start issuing certificates ahead of time, the better to avoid an application for certificates that cannot be met in early July. .
At yesterday's plenary sitting, during which Parliament gave the green light to the regulation on the "EU COVID Digital Certificate", MEPs also managed to reach an agreement with the Member States to prevent them from imposing additional travel restrictions on certificate holders, such as quarantine, self-isolation or testing.