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Greece to Launch ‘Covid Pass’ App that Checks Customer ‘Safe’ Status

Greece said this week that starting July 15, restaurant and F&B business owners would be able to download an application that will check whether the health/vaccination status information provided by customers is valid.

The Covid Pass app will be free and available on app stores for phones and tablets, Digital Governance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis told Mega channel on Friday. It goes into effect July 15 on the day the government has allowed the operation of indoor spaces such as restaurants, cafes, cinemas, theaters, clubs, bars and sports facilities. It should be noted that this week after Covid-19 cases soared, restaurants, bars, cafes, and entertainment venues can only serve seated customers.

How the Covid Pass Works

The application will verify whether a customer to an establishment – café, bar, restaurant – has been vaccinated or recovered, holds a negative rapid test result or a negative PCR test result.

According to Pierrakakis, the establishment’s manager will scan the document presented (paper or on phone) by the customer and a color-coded system will verify validity.

The color green and a check mark indicates completed Covid-19 vaccination or recovery; yellow indicates a negative test result; and red that the document is false or not correct.

“The idea behind the application is to simply to ‘read’ the European certificate,” said Pierrakakis. In this way, the store manager can decide who to let in, he added.

Referring to the management of personal data, Pierrakakis said the app was designed in collaboration with the government’s independent authority and that the app “collects minimum data”, he added.

Lastly, the minister referred to the government’s Freedom Pass incentive – a pre-paid card worth 150 euros that covers costs for travel and entertainment, including air fare or ferry tickets, vehicle rentals, accommodation, admission to museums and archaeological sites, awarded to those aged 18-25 who get vaccinated. The Freedom Pass goes into effect on July 20, he said.

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  1. Jim Taliadoros Reply

    what you hear is BS. I have acdc Card issued by the hospital that administered two vacinations plus a booster shot yet when trying to get in inside a Restaurnt In Agia Paraskevi Attika Greece is another stoiry. The want to scan an ocr code to get in, Despite the fact that I was tested at Eleftherios Venizelos upon arival with expiration of October 5th 2023,retested today 11/12/2021 at microbological outfit because I no longer have my creek ID card pharmacies are not allowed ttest you,good for 48 hrs so used my passport.at a cost of 10Euros a pop,MY ADVICE STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM GREECE, STAY HOME PERIOD. DAILY running aeround to eat

  2. alexander kechriotis Reply

    Greece is helpful and wanting tourists and people in general to be free to safely enjoy everything. If one has whatever it takes to do international travels these days, it will suffice for official needs in Greece. I am American with CDC vaccination card ( plus survived Covid illness itself ), and I arrived in Greece this week, without any issues, and enjoying my holidays.

  3. Steve Mansfield Reply

    Greece relies heavily on UK visitors who do not have access to the European Certificate so I doubt this app will be of any use with UK visitors. Also, if your Goggle Play account is not set to “Greece” as the home country, you cannot download the app so any non Greeks with businesses cannot get it even if they have a Greek mobile! You can only change your Google Play location once a year so that’s not an option either. Have to simply turn away all your UK customers….

  4. Lou Kaniko Reply

    My ‘special needs’ daughter and I are scheduled to visit Greece at the end of this month, and we are both fully vaccinated (Pfizer double vax). What provision do these indoor restaurants, etc. have for vaccinated tourists to be seated? Are our American CDC vax cards good enough (do we have to show them at these restaurants?), or do we too have to download a special app for tourists? What if we are not ‘smart phone savvy’ (many elderly are not, or carry ‘flip phones’)? Also, testing to come back into the USA is ridiculous, considering that the Delta variant is now everywhere, and common. If you are a fully vaccinated U.S. citizen, you shouldn’t have to test coming back into the USA!

  5. R Ferguson Reply

    We are booked to go to Greece this month but are thinking of cancelling, you are making it like we are visiting North Korea, to get into Greece you need a negative test so why the Nazi type checking people.

    • Barbara Kimball Reply

      You should be glad that they are taking such strict measures to protect your health!

    • Debi Reply

      Really, Nazi’s? Stay home, guessing you are unvaccinated. Stop being silly and not caring about anyone but yourself

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