A Singaporean citizen, who returned to the country from Japan on Monday, became the first person in the world to use a digital Covid-19 health certificate for immigration purposes, the companies behind the pass said in a statement. The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) stated that a traveller on Singapore Airlines flight 637 used AOKpass, a digitally authenticated medical records, “to officially present a negative Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction” digital test result upon arrival at Changi Airport’s immigration counters.
According to the ICC, Singapore has become the first country to use a digital health certificate to verify the Covid-19 status of inbound travellers. All travellers from Malaysia and Indonesia will now be able to use ICC AOKpass at Changi Airport to digitally authenticate their Covid-19 test results. They will also be able to authenticate other necessary health credentials during immigration checks.
Dr Chester Drum, a co-founder of AOKpass, said in a statement that the use of blockchain technology is a critical step in combating the challenges of forged tests and medical records. He stressed that there is an urgent need for a common framework in certifying, authenticating and securing the results of a Covid-19 test.