Europe 2021

[willem jongman]

Passing on the information to the security services would be illegal. Anyway, our government knows our addresses anyway, and also our IP address since we file our tax returns digitally.

[MrsHJ]

I saw an article link to the the Telegraph today that said UK interface to the EU app was about to get sorted out. Which is good news and should straighten out inconsistencies between European territories.

[ossie]

I saw an article link to the the Telegraph today that said UK interface to the EU app was about to get sorted out. Which is good news and should straighten out inconsistencies between European territories.

Yes, I nearly posted this a day or two back but didn't want to ruin someones fun

I bet the Netherlands say NO

[willem jongman]

If true it is really great news.

[simonhill]

Word on the street about Portugal is that they will soon be calling UK an acceptable third country for our jab app. I thought it was just a 'get more tourist' thing, but others say it must be reciprocal first.

This may be the reciprocity that will open the door.

[simonhill]

There is a fiddle being reported on TA, whereby you can use your NHS Jab cert to get an Irish EU Covid App. I presume that it is because NI jabs are valid in Ireland. Further reports say it does work, but not in all circumstances.

"I travelled to mainland Portugal on September 23rd. I almost wasn't allowed get on the flight because I didn't have an EU Covid Cert. Luckily, there is a way around it. I'm Irish and read online that if this happens, all you need to do is download the Irish Covid tracker app, scan your NHS covid vaccine cert QR code (make sure it is the second vaccine QR code) and the app will automatically generate an EU Covid cert. This app asks for your name, surname and number. You don't have to be an Irish citizen. This is completely free and anybody can do it.

[willem jongman]

This of course underscores the need for proper security. Not sure how you can identify yourself to the Irish version of the app if you are not an Irish resident/citizen. At least with the Dutch you have to identify yourself first time with the DigiD, a multifactor identification system.
Anyway, the problem is much wider than the oddd British tourist, and I have raised this publicly and as a result there are now articles in newspapers and items on TV. The reason is simple: with much more international travel non EU students are arriving in large numbers again and they either need to have their vaccinations approved, or else they need new jabs. The same applies to many expats. Similarly, EU citizens want their vaccinations recognized outside the EU. The challenge is to navigate between a lenient approach which makes life a lot easier for many but risks recognizing potentially insufficiently effective or tested vaccines like Sinovac or Sputnik, and undermine the confidence in vaccines, or be strict and inconvenience many internationals. Thus far, the Netherlands have opted for the strict approach, and in a slightly different way so have the UK and the USA (unless I am mistaken I still cannot travel to the USA with my full AZ vaccination).

[scragend]

There is a fiddle being reported on TA, whereby you can use your NHS Jab cert to get an Irish EU Covid App. I presume that it is because NI jabs are valid in Ireland. Further reports say it does work, but not in all circumstances.

"I travelled to mainland Portugal on September 23rd. I almost wasn't allowed get on the flight because I didn't have an EU Covid Cert. Luckily, there is a way around it. I'm Irish and read online that if this happens, all you need to do is download the Irish Covid tracker app, scan your NHS covid vaccine cert QR code (make sure it is the second vaccine QR code) and the app will automatically generate an EU Covid cert. This app asks for your name, surname and number. You don't have to be an Irish citizen. This is completely free and anybody can do it.

Just tried it, and it seems to work, in so much as I now have this (redacted of course):

I downloaded my NHS Covid Pass and scanned the second QR code into the Irish app to generate this. It didn't ask me for my name - presumably it knows this from the QR code.

So I now have the TousAntiCovid app, and I have this. I'm just not sure what I'm supposed to do with them. I'm going to Berlin in a couple of weeks' time - will these be of any use to me? Or will I need/can I get the German app? Or will it not actually matter at all

[willem jongman]

The question remains whether this only generates the national - here Irish - code or also the international one.
As for Germany I think the EU digital certificate is not yet required for bars, restaurants, museums etc. but this may change, of course. Germany is certainly tightening the screws: soon the unvaccinated will no longer get sick pay when they cannot go to work because they have covid. Beyond that there were quite a few restrictions when we were touring there a few weeks ago. FFP2 facemasks were mandatory in shops and in restaurants, and on campsites you had to leave your contact details, either on paper or with the Luca app. One campsite asked for vaccination details.

[simonhill]

It's probably been reported before, but....

What is the hold up for the UK recognising the EU Cert and the EU recognising the UK one.

The Portuguese have just said they won't be recognising Certs from countries that don't recognise the EU one (which includes the UK). So where is the hold up, them or us?

[willem jongman]

Many other countries have already joined the EU system but not the UK. There is now also an EU system for personal identification, but not all EU countries have been connected by now: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/e ... regulation
Quite a few non EU countries participate, but the UK option has unfortunately been turned off on 1 January 2021.

[mjr]

What is the hold up for the UK recognising the EU Cert and the EU recognising the UK one.

We don't know. It was reported that the UK applied to join on 28 July and the EU Commission requested more details. I did not find any later news, nor whether Whitehall had answered the Commission's request. I found no news on UK recognition of the EU Cert but I expect one won't be approved before the other.

Many other countries have already joined the EU system but not the UK. There is now also an EU system for personal identification, but not all EU countries have been connected by now: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/e ... regulation
Quite a few non EU countries participate, but the UK option has unfortunately been turned off on 1 January 2021.

Cool story, but seems completely irrelevant to the question.

[willem jongman]

The relevance is the personal identification part. This would allow people to apply in other countries. I found it because I wanted to know about Belgium, where they are relaxing some measures for those who can prove they are vaccinated etc. For that, the EU Digital covid certificate will be used, or a Belgium only app. The EU identification system may be used for the latter.

[mjr]

The relevance is the personal identification part. This would allow people to apply in other countries. [...]

Not even all the EU countries use that ID system, and the NHS England cert is already linked to one's passport and login. This is almost certainly not be the reason the application is not yet granted.

[willem jongman]

Infection rates are also important for potential visitors (I will not travel to countries with high infections rates), so here are some of the latest numbers for the Netherlands: weekly average daily infections per 100k: 9.6; weekly average per 1 million of daily hospital admissions: 2; ditto icu admissions: 0.4. In short, all these numbers are declining, though not as fast as I would like. Similarly, the vaccination rate is going up, still slowly, but a little faster than before the use of the Digital Covid Certificate was mandated in a number of public places: it is now 86.4% of first doses for the over 18s and 84% if we look at everyone over 12. Full vaccination is now at 82.4% and 80%.