Exclusive | EU official welcomes Hong Kong interest in Covid-19 travel app, urges city to speed up reopening borders to the world
- Digital Covid Certificate, already issued to 591 million people, shows key data for easier travel
- City’s ‘zero-infection’ strategy causing frustration over not knowing when borders will reopen
Hong Kong is interested in adopting a European Union digital application that shows users’ Covid-19 records, a move that will make travel more convenient when its borders reopen, according to a top EU official in the city.
The Digital Covid Certificate, already issued to 591 million people and recognised by 43 countries including the 27 EU member states, shows if a person has been vaccinated, received a negative test result and recovered from Covid-19.
It allows people to travel safely and freely between destinations that recognise the app, and some EU countries also use it as a check for entry to events or venues.
Walter van Hattum, head of the trade section of the EU office to Hong Kong and Macau, told the Post that Hong Kong was among 60 non-EU jurisdictions that have approached the European Commission about joining the system.
He welcomed Hong Kong’s interest, but said he hoped the city would give reopening to the rest of the world the same priority as reopening to mainland China.
