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January 8, 2022
DAILY BRIEFING
This Week’s Paper
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ATHENS – A COVID-19 free GR Wallet App to let people put certificates of vaccination and other identification on their cell phones saw more than one million responses shortly after it was launched.
The news came from Digital Governance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis in a tweet about the application allows the download of a simplified format of the Greek police ID and official proof of vaccination or a negative rapid test.
It was implemented to speed the process of the vaccinated to get into public gathering spots and stores from which the unvaccinated are supposed to be prohibited but no word if they are, including restaurants hungry for business.
“We noticed some difficulties in the inspection of certificates, as citizens also had to have their identity card with them to confirm the match. So, in order to serve them, while also protecting their privacy,” Deputy Minister Giorgos Georgantas told state broadcaster ERT earlier
“We basically introduced a section of the police-issued ID that contains only the (holder’s)] photograph, full name and date of birth … this is embodied in the certificate. One page will show the certificate and the other the identification data,” he said.
The free app is available for download on smartphones and tablets at the covidfree.gov.gr website, as well as through the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.
Users can store the document onto their device by scanning their certificate’s QR code or by downloading it as a PDF and clicking “Save to wallet.” Multiple certificates can be downloaded onto one device to make it easier for families.
Deputy Digital Governance Minister Theodoros Livanios earlier told Parliment that, “We have all noticed that when we go to a store, according to the measures that exist against the spread of the coronavirus, together with the certificate that we have on our mobile phone or in paper form, they ask us for the identity to see if the name coincides with the person who wants to enter a store.”
ATHENS – No government has been able to do it yet but Greece’s New Democracy administration will have tax officials use new online booking data to hunt tax cheats, especially for Value Added Tax (VAT) on businesses.
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DETROIT, MI – Charles “Chuck” Keros, the proprietor of the American Coney Island restaurant, who popularized the famed chili dog by expanding into the suburbs and shopping malls of Detroit, has died, Deadline Detroit reported on January 5.
NEW YORK – With the COVID pandemic surging in Greece, threatening family health, and being a drag on economic recovery, the vulnerability of children continues.
BOSTON – His Eminence Metropolitan Methodios of Boston announces the appointment of Presbytera Maria Drossos as the Director of the Metropolitan’s Office effective January 3rd, 2022.
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