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COVID19: Cyprus launches EU Green Pass

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Cyprus has launched the EU Digital Covid Certificate to facilitate smoother and safer travel across the European Union.

Presenting the digital pass, which goes live on Thursday, Transport Minister Yiannis Karousos and Deputy Minister of Innovation Kyriacos Kokkinos said Cyprus is ready to operate the system.

The digital certificate can easily be obtained online, be printed, or downloaded to an application.

There is a four-step process that begins by clicking on https://www.eudcc.gov.cy/.

Users enter their details and are guided through the process before sending a digital document containing a QR code confirming their digital pass.

An application called Wallet COVPASS is awaiting approval from Google and Apple application platforms.

Once the application is available, users can save their Green Pass to a digital wallet by scanning the QR code.

The application will download a QR code scanned every time a passenger walks through an entry or exit point of an EU country.

Despite minor glitches that are expected to occur due to misspelling of names at vaccination centres or punching in a wrong digit of a phone number, the process is user-friendly, said Kokkinos.

Holders should check to make sure their details appear correctly on the application, as their names might have been written differently at vaccination centres, or the spelling of their name on their ID card might differ from that of their passport.

“Even if one letter is misspelt, then there will be an issue at checkpoints,” said Kokkinos.

There is a six-week transitional period for member states to get things right and fix glitches.

Until then, printed documents will be accepted.

Cypriots who cannot obtain the digital pass can call the helpline 1474 or go to a Citizens Services Centre.

Some people vaccinated by their GP have told the Financial Mirror that they could not complete the online application form for the Green Pass.

The Citizens Services Centre said people are having issues, as some GPs have not updated the General Healthcare System’s database with their patients’ inoculation history.

The EU certificate is primarily to ease restrictions on travel throughout the bloc.

A certificate is issued in the following cases:

  • If you have been vaccinated against COVID-19 (with one or two doses) and registered on the Health Ministry database.
  • If you have been diagnosed with COVID-19 (RT-PCR), the result has been declared and registered on the Health Ministry database.
  • If you have undergone a COVID-19 laboratory test within the last 7 days by antigen rapid test or molecular methodology (RT-PCR) and received a negative test result and registered by the lab on the Health Ministry database.