According to an announcement made by a senior European Union official, Greece will be among the first countries that will participate in Green Digital Certificate trials.
EU countries have officially been divided into three groups “based on how technically ready they are to issue certificates for those who have been vaccinated for Covid-19.
Said trials are expected to begin in the second week of May for Greece, Spain, Italy, Malta, Bulgaria, Estonia and Luxembourg. The digital certificates for those countries will be ready to go on 1 June and fully operational by 30 June
Cyprus has been selected to be in the second group of trials.
“We need to put in place the EU COVID-19 certificate to re-establish people’s confidence in Schengen while we continue to fight against the pandemic,” said the Chair of the civil rights committee (LIBE), Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar, stressing that all restoring free movement is pivotal because without it “we don’t have a European Union”.
Meanwhile, Greece is welcoming visitors who present a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test or vaccination certificate upon arrival.
Vaccines made in “third countries” such as Russia and China — which have not been approved by the EMA — are accepted, but only residents of Europe, the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, Serbia, United Arab Emirates, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand, Rwanda, Singapore and Russia can enter without isolating. Everyone entering from other countries has to both isolate and get tested even if they have been vaccinated.
As far as Greek citizens are concerned, any adult who wants to be vaccinated against coronavirus will be able to do so by 30 June.
In the meantime, Greek health authorities announced 1,391 new cases of the Covid-19 for the 24-hour period ending 3pm Saturday, as well as 72 deaths.