A Digital Certificate System That Complies with International Standards: Taiwan Digital COVID-19 Certificate

Abstract

The first reported infections from COVID-19 were in 2019 and, since then, an outbreak has spread rapidly to other parts of the world, resulting in many deaths. As a result, governments began to implement border restrictions and quarantine measures, bringing the travel industry to a halt and plunging the global economy into a severe contraction. Many regions chose to coexist with COVID-19 and gradually eased their border restrictions with certain conditions, such as using personal health status certificates, vaccination certificates, etc. Digital certificates are becoming a global trend, and Taiwan has invested in developing related tools. This paper presents a technical evaluation from the government’s point of view. Taiwan uses the European Union (EU) Digital COVID Certificate as a basis to build a digital certificate that can fully meet the residents’ current international business and tourism needs. The government hopes that this digital proof will promote the public’s return to normal life and overcome the inconveniences brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the post-pandemic era, finding a way to coexist with the virus while gradually relaxing border and community epidemic-prevention policies without impacting our Taiwan’s medical capacity is a significant challenge. Providing key technological solutions to assist in risk stratification is essential in addressing this issue.

Keywords

• international standard for medical informatics
• digital COVID-19 certificate
• health information exchange
• FHIR