About 6.5 million people in Portugal, around 65% of the population, have received a European Union Digital Covid Certificate since these documents first started to be issued in the country on 16 June, the country’s Ministry of Health has announced.
“So far, about 6.5 million European Union digital certificates have been issued,” a ministry source told Lusa.
The certificate allows the bearer to show that they have are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, have performed a coronvirus test with a negative result, or have recently recovered from infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the disease.
They started being issued in Portugal on 16 June and came into force throughout the EU on 1 July, with the aim of facilitating the safe free movement of citizens between member states during the pandemic.
In mainland Portugal, the document is required for travel by air or sea, for access to tourist accommodation, to eat inside restaurants on weekends and holidays, to take part in group classes in gyms, and to attend spas, casinos and bingos, weddings and christenings at which more than 10 people are present, and also cultural, sporting or corporate events with more than 1,000 spectators outdoors or 500 people indoors.
The EU Digital Covid Certificate may be obtained through the SNS24 web portal of Portugal’s National Health Service SNS) or the SNS 24 mobile phone application.
Since March 2020, there have been 17,658 deaths associated with Covid-19 out of 1,022,807 confirmed cases of infection with the virus that causes it, according to data from the Directorate-General of Health (DGS).
The respiratory disease is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, detected in late 2019 in Wuhan, a city in central China, and currently with variants identified in countries such as the UK, India, South Africa, Brazil and Peru.
