A health worker conducts a PCR test for COVID-19. (Credit: Aziz Taher/Reuters)
BEIRUT — The European Commission announced Friday that digital COVID-19 certificates, attesting whether a person has been vaccinated against the virus, recovered from it or received a negative PCR test, issued by Lebanon will be considered equivalent to those issued by the European Union.
Here’s what we know:
• The European Commission’s statement guaranteed that “individuals who were vaccinated in Lebanon and are traveling to the Schengen area can now use their vaccination certificates to move freely and safely across the continent.” The decision also ensures that travelers coming to Lebanon from “fifty-six countries and territories in five continents” can use their EU digital COVID-19 certificate or equivalent.
• The development of a national digital COVID-19 certificate in Lebanon and a mobile application that can verify vaccination certificates was executed in cooperation with the EU, which “provided technical support to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.” The Commission’s statement noted that the mobile application is currently under review at the Ministry of Public Health.
• Ambassador to the European Union in Lebanon Ralph Tarraf said that the implementation of a digital COVID-19 certificate in Lebanon “goes beyond facilitating travel from and to Europe. It will help Lebanon manage its response to the virus, particularly during the coming holiday period.”