About 30% of Portuguese already have a European digital certificate

More than three million people, equivalent to about 30% of the Portuguese population, already have the European digital certificate, announced today by the Joint Services of the Ministry of Health (SPMS).

“To date, more than 3.1 million EU Covid digital certificates” have been issued certifying that the holder has been vaccinated against covid-19, tested negative or has already recovered from SARS virus infection. SPMS source to Lusa.

The issuance of these certificates began in Portugal on June 16 and took effect across the European Union on July 1, with the aim of facilitating the free movement of citizens in member states safely during the pandemic.

In addition to this objective, this receipt in Portugal has other functions, such as allowing access, since last weekend, to tourist establishments and local accommodations across the mainland.

In addition, restaurants in high-risk or high-risk municipalities are now required to require a digital certificate or test negative for covid-19 from 7 p.m. on Fridays and on weekends for meals indoors.

For travel within the European Union, as well as to EEA countries – Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway – the certificate holder is no longer subject to restrictions on entry to the country of destination to control the COVID-19 epidemic unless necessary to protect public health.

According to the SPMS, these certificates, which include a QR code with a digital signature to prevent forgery, can be obtained through the SNS24 online portal and the SNS24 app for Android and iOS versions.

In Portugal, since the beginning of the epidemic, in March 2020, 17,173 people died and 912,406 cases of infection were recorded, according to the Directorate General of Health.

The respiratory disease is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which was discovered in late 2019 in Wuhan, a city in central China, and currently with variants identified in countries such as the United Kingdom, India, South Africa, Brazil and Peru.