Northern Ireland vaccine certificates available for those travelling in August

By Jonathan McCambridge, PA

Northern Ireland vaccine certificates are now available for those travelling abroad up to and including August 31, the Department of Health has confirmed.

The certificates provide people with official confirmation that they have received both their Covid-19 vaccinations in Northern Ireland.

They are available in digital format – via a phone app or a pdf file for printing.

Those who cannot apply online can request a paper version by phone, although this process will take longer and may take up to 10 working days for the printed version to arrive.

Northern Ireland’s vaccination certification system had been offline for several days last week amid concerns about some users being able to see other people’s information.

It comes after a number of countries were added to the green list for travel, including Germany, Austria and Norway.

The new regulations in Northern Ireland follow a host of changes to the traffic light system for international travel in the rest of the UK.

The countries added to the Northern Ireland green list for travel from Sunday at 4am are Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Slovakia, Latvia, Romania and Norway.

There is no requirement to self-isolate or book a day eight Covid-19 PCR test if travelling to Northern Ireland from a country on the green list.

Countries which have been moved on to the amber list are India, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE.

People returning to Northern Ireland from France will no longer have to quarantine.

Those returning from an amber list country and who have been fully vaccinated under the UK, US or EU vaccination programmes do not have to self-isolate or take the day eight post-arrival test.

Georgia, La Reunion, Mayotte and Mexico will be added to the red list from Sunday.

Anyone travelling to Northern Ireland from a country on the red list must book and enter hotel quarantine for 10 days, which includes post-arrival tests.