World News | Covid: South Africa to Issue Digital Vaccine Certificates
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. The South African government on Friday said it will begin issuing digital certificates to those vaccinated against Covid-19 from next week.
Johannesburg, Sep 10 (PTI) The South African government on Friday said it will begin issuing digital certificates to those vaccinated against Covid-19 from next week.
“We have commenced with the development of a digital vaccination certificate to confirm that a person has been vaccinated,” health minister Joe Phaahla told a virtual press briefing here.
The certificate would be available through a person's smartphone and can be printed out.
Phaahla said the digital vaccination certificates have been developed with fraud protection and other security measures and would be aligned with the standards set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for vaccination certificates.
Also Read | Taliban Informs China That Uygur Militants of East Turkistan Islamic Movement Left Afghanistan.
“This initiative is in line with the WHO initiated vaccination certificate. Through this the WHO is attempting to standardise vaccination proof all over the world so that this cannot be defrauded in terms of proving that you have been vaccinated,” he said.
Phaahla said the certificate, which would be issued from next week, might be used for certain services in the future, but the government has no intention of making the document a requirement for accessing public services.
“They may be useful for access to some entertainment, sports and other events, but definitely not for essential services and public services – we want to emphasise this,” he said.
South Africa also does not currently require vaccine passports for travellers coming into the country. Only PCR test results not older than 72 hours are required.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)