‘Tamper-proof’ digital Covid-19 test certificates to be issued for travellers departing Singapore

• HealthCerts is a secure certification standard developed by the Singapore authorities
• It can be used by travellers to carry Covid-19 test results digitally
• From March 10, travellers who get tested at authorised clinics may use the certification to show their results to immigration officials and airline employees
• The question of whether international travellers should be required to produce Covid-19 test results is being debated around the world

SINGAPORE — From March 10, individuals intending to travel out of Singapore will be able to obtain a digital version of their pre-departure Covid-19 test results. This digital copy could eventually be presented to customs and airline officials to verify through a new certification standard developed by the Government known as HealthCerts.

Built on blockchain technology, the HealthCerts system presents an “interoperable, verifiable and tamper-proof solution” that will speed up the check-in and customs process at immigration checkpoints here and overseas, the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office (SNDGO) said in a statement on Friday (Feb 26).

It was not immediately clear if the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) will be ready to accept the HealthCerts system from March 10.

The question of whether travellers will be required to produce evidence of a pre-departure Covid-19 test result is being debated around the world as various governments contemplate the eventual resumption of international travel.

Under the new Singapore system, individuals who take a pre-departure Covid-19 test at authorised clinics here from March 10 will receive their results in the form of a digital document. They will then have to upload that document to a government website (notarise.gov.sg) for notarisation — a process of verifying that they are authentic.

Once that is done, they will receive a notarised digital certificate containing a QR code via email or through the SingPass mobile application. They may then present the QR code to airline employees or immigration officers at checkpoints to verify their test results, SNDGO said.

When airline employees or immigration officers scan the QR code, they will be able to check the authenticity of the digital certificate through the Verify platform of the Government Technology Agency (GovTech).

These digital certificates will be recognised overseas because they are issued by Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH), SNDGO said.

The HealthCerts certification process had been developed in line with international standards similarly adopted by the United States and Brazilian authorities, and also meets the Singapore Government’s requirements, it added.

Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation Initiative Vivian Balakrishnan told Parliament on Friday during the debate on the Prime Minister Office's budget that the authorities are hoping that the HealthCerts standard can be extended to verify digital vaccination certificates in the future.

SNDGO added that the Government is working with the International Civil Aviation Organisation and various countries so that such digital vaccination certificates will be mutually recognised.

“The discussions will take some time, as most countries have only just started vaccinations,” the office said.

HOW IT WORKS

Developed by GovTech and MOH, HealthCerts is a set of open-source digital standards and schema used for issuing digital Covid-19 test result certificates. Open source means the material is available to be used widely.

HealthCerts relies on OpenAttestation, an open-source framework that uses blockchain technology to issue secure documents that can be verified independently without any proprietary software or equipment. Blockchain is the same technology used in cryptocurrencies.

Digital documents issued using the OpenAttestation framework cannot be tampered with, SNDGO said.

The office added that the certification process will keep an individual’s personal data private.

This is because the individual’s digital Covid-19 test certificate will only be uploaded to the blockchain in the form of a hash — or a digital fingerprint — that does not divulge his personal data.

GovTech has made HealthCerts’ code available to the public online to encourage more companies and other governments to adopt the HealthCerts certification process.

As of Wednesday, nine companies have been authorised to work with clinics to issue certificates through the HealthCerts standard.