By Pervez Bari
Bhopal: Zeeshan Khan, an environmentalist of Bhopal, has developed “Ok2Pass”, a digital document that provides secure proof of Covid-19 vaccination or negative test results at such places as airports, railway stations, malls, hospitals and so forth.
According to Zeeshan, who is CEO of Beyond Smart Group, this is India’s first smart solution that provides secure digital proof of Covid-19 vaccination or negative test results and is generated using the data provided by the service provider (vaccination site) or testing laboratory through secure state and city immunisation and Covid-19 testing databases.
He says that, when one gets vaccinated or tested for Covid-19, one gets a digital QR certificate link on one’s mobile number through an SMS. One can show the QR code link at the checkpoint. It will verify the authenticity of one’s vaccination certificate or test report. The government can track one’s vaccination status or test result through this, he says.
Khan said that he and his associates had started working on the project two months ago. He said a mobile app with similar features was being tested in New York State in the US. “We also did knowledge sharing with some US scientists,” he says, adding that Rs 1 lakh has been spent on the project. “This is a purely public welfare effort for knowledge-sharing. We don’t intend to earn money through it,” he says. “It’s meant for the government which can use it as it deems fit.”
He says that the prototype is ready and they are in talks with the Madhya Pradesh Government for launching it on a trial basis.
Similar to a mobile airline boarding pass, citizens can store their passes digitally on their smartphones or print them out to present them at different public places. The authorities concerned can use the “OK2Pass” to comply with the Covid-19 guidelines.
There are three kinds of “OK2Passes” which include: (i) Covid-19 Vaccination Pass (valid for 180 days after the pass is retrieved, at which time a new pass may be retrieved); (ii) Covid-19 PCR Test Pass (valid until midnight of the third day after a test) and (iii) Covid-19 Antigen Test Pass (valid for 6 hours from the time of a test)