STA, 20 July 2021 - Slovenia started issuing digital certificates on 24 June, but initially they were only available on the national e-health website, which requires a digital identity to access.
In early July, the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) then sent out paper copies of the digital certificate to around 900,000 residents.
Since last week users can download the eZVEM app to their mobile devices running Apple's IOS or Google's Android operating system. To activate the app, they need one of two national digital identities.
To use digital Covid certificate data basis without internet access, registration is not needed. The users only need to scan the QR code of their digital Covid certificate to save it on their mobile device.
"The app and the genuine digital certificate are steps in continuation of the previously announced digitalisation and modernisation of Slovenian healthcare and public administration," said the health minister.
The key change is that parents will be able to download on their mobile phones the certificates of their children and other family members.
"In this way digital certificates will be always with you and will ease entry not only to other countries but also into cultural institutions, hotels, restaurants, sports venues," said Poklukar.
The new mobile app also makes it possible to access health documents such as e-prescriptions, e-referrals, waiting times and test results.
Poklukar also announced a special app that would allow event organisers to check "anonymously" whether visitors to public events have been either vaccinated, have recovered from Covid or tested negative.
This was as organizers have so far not been obliged to check whether the visitors meet one of the three conditions, even though that was a condition for access to the event.
"We would like participants in public events to attend them safely and to stay safe after the event, to not see a repeat of a football event like a year and a half ago becoming a source of infection or an outbreak," said Poklukar.
Calling on everyone to get a jab, he said as doctor he favoured those who have been vaccinated to be able to attend school in person, use public transport, go to the theatre, restaurant or hotel when the delta variant is set to spread in the autumn and winter.
Poklukar said that the country had so far allocated EUR 53.5 million for rapid tests, nearly EUR 70 million for PCR tests, while the cost of more than 17,000 Covid hospitalisations had been EUR 195 million.
NIJZ has so far recorded the issuance of 160,626 certificates proving recovery from Covid, 103,471 PCR test certificates, 504,852 vaccination certificates and 257,431 rapid test certificates, which are data from all issuing points and apps.
Get the app for Apple's iOS or Google's Android operating systems. You'll need a national digital identity to activiate it.
