Questions still unanswered about proof of recovery in “green passport”

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Anyone who has had a Corona infection and is therefore exempt from mandatory testing can also prove this in Austria by showing their “Absonderungsbescheid” (Certificate of segregation). However, these notices from the health authorities are not included in the “green passport.” As the Ministry of Health confirmed to the APA, segregation certificates are not accepted when traveling abroad in the EU. In addition, not all Green Passport functions will start on June 4.

With the “Green Passport”, electronic proof of corona testing, vaccination or convalescence (“3-G”) should be possible. According to the Ministry of Health, however, the proof of recovery will not be the segregation notices of the health authorities, but so-called recovery certificates will be recorded. These can be issued eleven days after an infection at the earliest. A prerequisite, however, is that the competent authority enters the recovery into the Epidemiological Reporting System (EMS), where all known infections with SARS-CoV-2 virus are recorded.

For now, it is unclear what action will be taken if the entry in the EMS is not made or is made late. “Incorrect certificates or entries can be corrected by the relevant authorities at any time. Details on the process will follow,” the office of Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein (Greens) said as reported by the Austrian Press Agency. In any case, a support office will be set up for this purpose – as provided for in the law. The epidemic law states that incorrect certificates must be corrected and reissued within five days.

According to the Ministry of Health, the fact that the health authorities’ isolation notices do not end up in the “green passport” as proof that the infection has been overcome is due to the relevant EU requirements: “According to the draft EU regulation, proof of recovery can only be provided on the basis of a positive PCR test (after 11 days have elapsed since the diagnosis).” In Austria, this process is triggered by the submission of positive test results from the laboratories to the EMS. However, the segregation notice would continue to serve as an “analogous form of proof” of survived infection within Austria.