PHILIPSBURG--Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor VSA Omar Ottley said St. Maarten is ready to go live with the COVID-19 QR code system once official documentation has been received to do so.
This was announced by the minister during the live Council of Ministers press briefing on Wednesday.
Ottley said the ministry has signed on to the European Union (EU) Digital COVID Certificate (DCC) system. The DCC is digital proof that a person has either been vaccinated against COVID-19, received a negative test result or recovered from COVID-19.
According to the minister, St. Maarten is currently awaiting official documents needed that would allow the country to “go live” with the DCC.
When this goes live, all vaccinated persons will be able to send a request via the official government’s website to receive their vaccination identification (VID) number. This VID will be linked into the DCC.
The minister said he also plans to establish relationships with the laboratories on St. Maarten in which COVID-19 test results for individuals could be automatically linked to the system.
He said that this system is beneficial for travel purposes as it will make it much more accessible to others to find out other country’s COVID-19 travel protocols and regulations.
He also noted that the DCC may also prove to be a security buffer for local businesses. This system can be used by businesses to screen a person’s status prior to entering their establishments. This could be used to prevent persons who have tested positive for COVID-19 from entering these establishments. He added that using the DCC system would provide a layer of protection to businesses.
According to the minister, a Memorandum of Intent (MOI) was signed between himself, on behalf of the government, and the nightclub owners to create such protocols.
