Switzerland will no longer issue Covid certificates from September 1. The SwissCovid app will also be discontinued, the Federal Council announced on Wednesday.
After the EU decided at the end of June not to renew the legal basis for the European Union’s Covid digital certificate (EU DCC), Switzerland is now following suit. The Federal Council took the fundamental decision in mid-May to halt the Covid certificate issuance system, provided that EU regulations were not extended.
Given the “stable epidemiological situation”, the Federal Council stated that there was no need for Covid certificates. Currently only a few countries still require proof of vaccination, testing or recovery. The freedom to travel is therefore also given without a certificate.
Swiss certificates that already exist in the “Covid Certificate” app are stored locally and the QR code can still be displayed and checked after the certificate system has been set up. The certificates can therefore continue to be used for travel in the app or in another form – printed, in the electronic patient file (EPD), as a PDF document or screenshot – until their technical validity expires (two years after issue).
As a rule, alternative forms of evidence would also be accepted. The yellow vaccination booklet of the World Health Organization (WHO) remains an internationally recognized document for proof of vaccinations.
The SwissCovid app will also be discontinued. It was developed to complement the contact tracing of the cantons during the Covid 19 pandemic and thus relieve the cantons.
Operations were temporarily suspended in spring 2022; From September 1, 2023, the infrastructure will now also be definitively dismantled, as announced by the Federal Council.
This is in line with the legal requirement, which stipulates that the system must be switched off when it is no longer needed to fight the pandemic.
(jam/sda)
source: watson
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