China creates a digital vaccine passport
Beijing this week introduced a digital health certificate tracking users’ vaccination and coronavirus test history to allow international travel.
The vaccine passport runs on Tencent’s WeChat messaging app, according to a report by the Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua. The service currently works only for Chinese citizens.
Europe, the U.S. and others have discussed creating their own version of the system in preparation for a likely boom in travel as more people receive vaccinations. President Xi Jinping of China has called for a standardized, global system, but privacy concerns make that outcome unlikely.
Context: In China, health code software that tracks users’ locations and that can link them to hot spots and outbreaks have become commonplace in the coronavirus pandemic. A green code, which indicates a clean history, is required to do an array of activities, including entering a grocery store or taking public transportation.
Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.
In other developments:

■ The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development expects the American economy to accelerate nearly twice as fast as predicted, but warned that countries struggling with vaccination distribution, especially those in Europe, risk falling behind.

■ Civil Liberties Union for Europe, a human rights group, warns that policies put in place by governments to fight the pandemic have weakened democracy across the continent, based on an analysis of 14 countries.

■ A year after its first lockdown, Italy surpassed 100,000 coronavirus deaths. The country is facing a large wave of infections driven by new variants.
The New York Times