Almost 300,000 Ukrainians already received a COVID-19 vaccination certificate on their phone through the state mobile app Diia, the Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov wrote on Telegram on Aug. 27.
“We are currently working on making it possible to generate a certificate on Diia using other types of electronic signatures,” Fedorov writes.
Within the past week, 500,000 Ukrainians signed in to the app to get the certificate.
The mobile app generates a COVID-19 certificate for those who have received the two doses of the vaccine, have an ID passport or biometric passport and received a legal signature for the medical document.
The certificate allows Ukrainian to travel to European Union countries where an electronic vaccination certificate is mandatory to access restaurants, bars, and nightclubs, as well as touristic venues.
EU officially decided that Ukraine’s certificates in the Diia mobile app meet European standards on Aug. 19.
“Ukrainians will be able to travel safely again without the restrictions caused by the pandemic,” the Ministry said.
According to European requirements, tourists from Ukraine must be vaccinated with Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca or Janssen to travel to and within the EU.
As of Aug. 28, nearly 3.5 million Ukrainians are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and over 1.7 million people have received the first of the two doses since the start of the vaccination campaign on Feb. 24.
Ukraine currently vaccinates its people with Pfizer, Sinovac, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines. Johnson & Johnson was also authorized by the Ukrainian government in July.
Ukrainians and foreigners have to take a COVID-19 test when entering the country to minimize the risk of spreading the most widespread coronavirus Delta variant.
However, Ukrainians and foreigners with COVID-19 vaccine certificates are exempt from this requirement. With one dose enough to skip the PCR tests or self-isolation upon arrival.
Those not vaccinated with WHO-approved vaccines such as vaccines from Russia and India, are required to self-isolate for more than 7 days.
Over six million people are using the Diia app. Ukraine has become the world’s first country that legalized digital passports, making them interchangeable with physical passports. As of August, all Ukrainian institutions are obliged to accept them.
Over 70 state services are now available online and Ukraine plans to digitize all government services by 2024. Although users of the application still face technical issues, the government is working swiftly to make sure things run smoothly.
“We will not stop until the display result is 100% successful,” Fedorov wrote.
