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Hour-long tech glitch takes Swiss covid app offline

hand displaying phone with covid app
Many countries have turned to digital tools in their efforts to manage the Covid-19 pandemic. Keystone / Pierre Albouy

Switzerland’s Covid app went offline for an hour late Friday due to technical issues, Keystone-SDA reported. The glitch also affected the operation of EU-issued Covid certificates in Swiss territory.

The Swiss digital health certificate could not be updated and showed an “invalid signature”, a failure that was first reported on Twitter by 20 Minuten and Blick.

The Federal Office of Information Technology and Telecommunication (FOITT), which developed the SwissCovid application, said the outage lasted from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.

“Maintenance work at the EU gateway caused all keys from the list to be unavailable for a short time,” FOITT stated on Twitter.External link “The BIT (FOITT) has restored the Swiss keys, Swiss Covid certificates are working again.”

Shortly before midnight on Friday, the EU-issued certificates became operational again in Switzerland, according to the same source.

Since September 13, the Covid certificate is mandatory in Switzerland for indoor events and activities. Proof that one has recovered from Covid, tested  negative or vaccinated against the coronavirus must be presented (typically a QR code in paper or digital form).

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