Kerala to issue vaccination certificates with passport details for those travelling abroad

As per the earlier announcement by Kerala Government, the state, on Saturday issued a statement for Covid-19 vaccination certificates with passport numbers. The certificates will be issued by district medical officers as several countries have mandated vaccination certificates with passport numbers to control the virus spread. The state government has asked those in need of such certificates to apply through the government website. 

"Those beneficiaries (above 18 years) who are travelling abroad and wants to get the State Issued COVID Vaccination certificate, with Passport number and/or vaccine name added (in case of Covishield) as mentioned in GO must apply for the same through https://covid19.kerala.gov.in/vaccine/," the notification issued by the Kerala government read.

The notification further mentioned that applications will be verified by concerned District Medical Officer for approval. 

"Applications thus submitted will be verified by the concerned District Medical Officer/ Officer designated by DMO and the application will be approved/rejected. Once approved digital certificate will be issued, and the Beneficiary will get an SMS confirmation regarding the same. Certificate can then be downloaded from the portal (https://covid19.kerala.gov.in/vaccine/)," added the notification. 

Reduced vaccine gap for abroad travellers

The state government has also decided to reduce the gap between first and second doses of vaccination for those who want to travel out of India. The reduced gap has amounted to four to six weeks. To ease the process for foreign travellers, the government has decided to allow beneficiaries to apply for priority vaccination through the eHealth portal with documents supporting immediate travel. The second dose will be inoculated on priority basis once the application is approved by District RCHO. 

The union ministry has advised an interval of 12-16 weeks between the two doses of vaccines. 

Kerala COVID-19 cases

The government has decided to extend the lockdown restrictions in the state even after reporting a decline in number of fresh cases. On Saturday, Kerala reported 23513 fresh COVID-19 cases taking state's tally to 2494385. A total of 2252505 people have recovered with recent tally of 28100 discharges. The state currently has 90.3% of recovery rate. In last 24 hours, 198 people succumbed to the virus bringing the toll to 8455. The active cases count has reached 233036. 

(Inputs from ANI)