Denmark has introduced a digital coronavirus passport that will enable citizens to travel across Europe or go to the hairdresser, a tattoo parlour, dine inside a restaurant, or wherever else it is needed at home. The pass will come into effect July 1.

During a recent press conference outside the Copenhagen airport, Danish health minister Magnus Heunicke held up his phone to show the app, which only features a QR code and a green bar if the person has been vaccinated twice or recently tested negative for COVID-19.

“What we get now is an app that makes it easier and simpler to use,” Heunicke said. “There is no doubt that we will have to use it over the summer, but it is of course something that needs to be phased out.”

People will either have the code scanned or will flash it before entering an airport, a harbour, a train station, a hairdresser, or an eatery. In certain cases, a physical document can be sent in the mail to serve the same purpose as the app.

“It is a solution that is very easy to use,” said Wammen, adding that if it flashes red, it will not say why.

Wammen could not say whether all EU countries will be ready to go live with the passport by the end of June, allowing residents to travel across 30 European countries. “But Denmark is ready,” he said.

Some 20% of Denmark’s population of 6 million have been fully vaccinated, according to the latest figures.

Six other European Union member states – Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Croatia, and Poland – have also recently introduced similar certificate systems.