Covid-19: China launches digital health certificates for overseas travel
- WeChat-based system uses QR codes to show travellers’ coronavirus and antibody test results and whether they have been vaccinated
- China ready to discuss ‘the establishment of mutual recognition mechanisms’ with other countries, foreign ministry says
China has launched a digital health certificate for its citizens that they might one day be able to use as a “vaccine passport”, as countries around the world embark on inoculation programmes and consider ways to reopen their borders.
All of the information was encrypted in a QR code that could be verified, decrypted and read using a public key provided by the issuing authority, he said.
The digital document, which is available only to Chinese nationals, could then be provided to the relevant authorities overseas as evidence of a person’s health status, he said.
“China stands ready to discuss with other countries the establishment of mutual recognition mechanisms for health code information on the basis of accommodating each other’s concerns,” Zhao said.