The European Commission has considered amending rules on COVID-19 certificates on February 22, 2022, making it possible to check recovery from illness with a rapid antigen test.
In entire Europe, the COVID certificates identify the PCR tests for the recovery certificates at this duration.
As per the guidelines provided by the EU rules, to share the information if the person has recovered from the infection or not, they have to present a positive PCR test from around 11 days earlier.
Meanwhile, the Commission observed that some of the member states lack the PCR screening capacity in the face of the current wave where the Omicron variant was on top of all of the COVID-19 variants.
The European Union has given them permission to the member states to provide a “certificate of recovery” based on a rapid antigen test.
Along with this, the member state is not required to take this action related to the change but are obliged to accept the recovery certificates which is granted by other nations under a similar situation from their own residents.
Member States are not obliged to introduce this change but must accept the recovery certificates granted by other countries under the same conditions as for their own citizens.
Currently, in Belgium, a recovery certificate is valid for around the 11th day after a positive PCR test till 180 days after the test.
This rule change has come after the majority of the European nations have started to open their borders as well as to ease the travel restrictions.
The majority of the nations have decided to relax to COVID measures by looking at the current situation. However, the Netherlands has already removed the rules and restrictions against the infection, and their objective is to open it in around three steps.
