By akademiotoelektronik, 29/03/2022

Sanitary pass: how to obtain your Covid-19 recovery certificate?

Question asked by Christiane, July 8, 2021.

Hello,

In order to curb the increase in contamination, Emmanuel Macron has decided to extend the health pass in the coming weeks. From July 21, this will be compulsory for “leisure and cultural places” bringing together more than 50 people, from the age of 12. Then it will be extended “early August” much more widely to places of daily life (cafes, restaurants, shopping centers, etc.) and to certain means of transport, such as planes and trains.

Set up on June 9 in France and July 1 in Europe, the health pass system has so far organized the control of people when traveling abroad or on the occasion of major events and to go to certain establishments, such as nightclubs.

To obtain this pass, three ways are possible, as detailed by the government on its website:

- a complete vaccination schedule (two weeks after the second injection for Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca, four weeks after the injection for Johnson & Johnson, two weeks after the single injection for vaccines in people with a history of Covid) ;

- the presentation of a recent negative test (less than forty-eight or less than seventy-two hours depending on the situation);

- or a “certificate of recovery”. It is on the latter that you are questioning us.

Antigen tests are no longer accepted

A recovery certificate is proof of a positive Sars-Cov-2 result taken less than six months ago, during which time authorities believe the risk of recontamination is low. Until July 8, PCR and antigen tests were accepted to prove a Covid history, but a decree published in the official journal on July 9 (dated July 8) restricted the device to RT-PCR screening only. At the same time, the minimum time for the test to be considered proof of recovery has been shortened from fifteen to eleven days.

Clearly, a person who tested positive for Covid-19 by RT-PCR more than eleven days and less than six months ago can, by presenting their test, enjoy the same freedom of passage as people vaccinated or who have tested negative for the occasion.

But how to obtain this document? Since April 19, the authorities have set up the sidep.gouv.fr platform which makes it possible to retrieve the results of its positive or negative PCR and antigen test for Covid for three months. This secure process makes it easier to read and authenticate the results, in particular thanks to a QR code.

If you have carried out a positive test within these deadlines, you can therefore retrieve it by logging on to SI-DEP (if you had not already done so when your result was announced). This document will act as a health pass that you can keep on paper, or in digital format, by downloading the certificate to your device or by scanning the QR Code in the “Tous Anti Covid” application. Please note that it is only kept for three months on the platform.

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But what if you contracted the Covid less than six months ago, before the implementation of the authentication system via SI-DEP? Before April 19, results were delivered without a QR code. At the request of the patient, in the event of loss for example, the laboratories can return a copy in the classic format. "The ministry had asked us to send our laboratory results," explains CheckNews the president of the union of medical biologists, Lionel Barrand. But this request was part of obtaining proof to show at the time of vaccination to obtain only one dose. Lionel Barrand also specifies that the newly sent document is in the same format as the original (without QR code, therefore).

The QR Code is a central element of the health pass, according to what can be read on the website of the European Union and that of the French government. “The EU digital COVID certificate contains a QR code with a digital signature to protect it against tampering. When verifying the certificate, the QR code is scanned and the signature verified. Each issuing organization (hospital, test center, health authority, etc.) has its own digital signature key. All this data is stored in a secure database in each country”, specifies for example the European Union.

Analysis reports not accepted

Whether it is the original document or not, the Directorate General of Health tells Checknews that people “will not be able to present the laboratory report as proof of recovery within the framework of the health pass. On the other hand, they will be able to go and be vaccinated (with a 1-dose schedule) by presenting their report to the health professional on the day of the vaccination procedure”. In other words, without a QR code, it is not possible to obtain the health pass, even if you were infected less than six months ago.

As a reminder, two months after infection, it is possible for a formerly infected person to be vaccinated with a single dose. A vaccination certificate will then be issued to him and will replace that of “recovery”. Without valid proof of a Covid history and without a complete vaccination schedule, she will have to present a negative screening according to the deadlines set out to travel, participate in certain events and soon go to a restaurant, museum or cinema.

At the end of June, the Ministry of Health nevertheless indicated to our colleagues from Le Parisien that a catch-up process was going to be put in place so that people who tested positive between March 28 and April 19 retrieve their test in the correct format on SI-DEP. “Since July 6, 2021, all the stock of tests for the last three months (so from April 6, then from July 7 to July 7, etc.) has been available on sidep.gouv.fr. People who tested positive from April 6 will be able to retrieve their proof of recovery by logging into the SI-DEP portal. People who tested positive between March 28 and April 19, 2021 received an SMS and/or email from the SI-DEP portal inviting them to collect their certificate of recovery in European format (valid for the health pass)”, confirms the General Management. of health (DGS).

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Update, July 14, 2021: Tuesday evening, Olivier Véran announced that 12/17 year olds and employees of places open to the public will finally have a month's respite to get vaccinated. In addition, it will be enough to wait one week after the second injection to obtain the health pass instead of two initially (for Pfizer, Moderna and Astrazeneca). Please note that the shortening of this period is only valid in France. "At the level of European harmonization, work remains to be done, so currently to travel within the EU you have to be vaccinated for two weeks," said the Minister of Health.

Update, July 30, 2021: People who were infected before the Sidep portal was set up and who were not affected by the catch-up should finally be able to receive their recovery certificate. In view of the extension of the health pass, the General Directorate of Health asked in an “urgent DGS” (a note sent to health professionals) of July 29 to return the results of positive PCR tests less than six months old. to patients who request it. “In order to be able to provide any patient who requests it with a certificate of recovery from Covid-19 following a positive RT-PCR result valid for more than 11 days and less than 6 months on the date of collection, it is possible for the laboratories, from today Thursday, July 29, 2021, to transmit again to SI-DEP the result of this positive RT-PCR analysis for the sole purpose that a QR code can be generated”, can we read in the note. Once the document is available on the Sidep portal, the patient must download it within the day “so that this data older than 90 days reintroduced into the system is not stored in it in any way, in accordance with the law”.