China has launched a health certification program for domestic travelers, making it a world leader in so-called viral passports. A digital certificate confirming vaccination status and virus test results is available to Chinese citizens through the program on Chinese social media “WeChat”.
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“In the near future, the Chinese version of the International Health Certificate for Tourism will promote healthy, safe and orderly communication between people from different countries and become a safe guarantee for Chinese citizens traveling the world,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement to WeChat. The certificates are being distributed to “help support the global economic recovery and facilitate cross-border travel,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
The International Health Certificate is currently only available to Chinese citizens and is not mandatory. The certificate, which is also available in paper form, is understandably the world’s first “virus passport”.
The United States and the United Kingdom are among the countries that are also considering introducing similar permits. The European Union is also working on “green passes” for vaccination, which will allow citizens to travel between Member States and abroad.
China’s program includes a QR code that will allow each country to obtain traveler’s health information, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday. QR health codes in the WeChat app and other Chinese smartphone apps are already required to provide access to public transportation and many public places in China.
These applications track user movements and generate a green code that is synonymous with good health if the user has not been in close contact with a person who has been confirmed to be infected with the Covid-19 virus and has not traveled to the outbreak area.
However, the system has raised questions about respect for privacy rights and concerns that government espionage is on the rise.
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