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Day: 11 March 2021

French airline experiments with AOK travel pass

by: Cassandra Tanti
11/03/2021

Air France is now trialing a digital ‘health pass’ for Covid-free travelers on selected flights. The company says it will share the test results with other airlines in an effort to resume air traffic as swiftly as possible.
While France’s major airline made the announcement on 17th February, the company began testing the digital pass on several flights to Guadeloupe and Martinique on Thursday.
It comes exactly one year to the day, 11th March, when the World Health Organisation declared a worldwide pandemic. The air travel industry has been in freefall ever since.
The AOKpass is a mobile app that allows a secure record of the results of a passenger’s Covid-19 test carried out in one of two partner laboratories.
Once at the airport, passengers present the certificate on the app – a QR code – instead of a paper test.
According to Emmanuelle Ferracci, in charge of the project at Air France, the app will make boarding easier for passengers, who will have a dedicated queue and will be able to swiftly present the QR code before boarding.
“The objective is to prepare for the future, since in the long term we will have to come up with solutions to be able to resume air traffic. And this ‘health pass’ will be a part of that,” she said.
The International Air Transport Association, which brings together most of the global sector, has been working for several months on a digital passport allowing passengers to prove their health status before boarding.
Air France’s test phase for the AOKpass will last one month and involve flights departing from Roissy-Charles de Gaulle (Paris) to Pointe-à-Pitre (Guadeloupe) and Fort-de-France (Martinique).
It will be carried out on a voluntary basis in order to test the operation of the app in real conditions and to find out the opinions of test clients. Air France says it will share this feedback with the other airlines in the Skyteam alliance, which are currently testing various solutions for digitising health documents.
Air France has assured that it will not keep any personal data on passengers and only the laboratories will have access to that information.
Over the next few months, the app could also include proof of vaccination, but for now debates surrounding a “vaccine passport” are far from settled, despite a strong push in that direction by the aviation sector.
 
 
 

Life after the Covid crisis

by: Cassandra Tanti
11/03/2021

The National Council has presented to the government its health crisis exit strategy, saying Monaco should be a role model to the rest of the world in how it emerges from this unprecedented situation.
Members of the National Council signed a detailed Resolution on Wednesday night during an extraordinary session, unable to wait until the opening of the Ordinary Spring Session in April.
“From the start of the crisis, the Assembly acted as a relay for the expectations and legitimate needs of Monegasques, residents, employees and economic players, in particular to strengthen the supply of medical equipment to protect the population and consolidate the exceptional aid system necessary to combat the social and economic consequences of the pandemic,” reads the resolution. “In the current context, the pursuit of the fight against Covid-19 and support for residents, all workers and economic players in the Principality remain the priority of the National Council.”
Among the long list of recommendations in the resolution, the National Council states the obvious: that the government do everything possible to protect the population in terms of health and to support employees, entrepreneurs, traders, craftsmen and self-employed workers affected by the crisis.
But it also calls on the State to “pay particular attention to the consequences of this lasting crisis on the youngest population, especially adolescents and young adults,” adding that youth, who have had their future prospects upended, must be supported.
Violence in the home also receives a special mention, with the National Council asking the government to “maintain high vigilance on this issue”.
In light of recent criticisms of Monaco’s handling of the health situation by some French media, the council “insists” on the need to defend the image of the Principality through a preventive public awareness campaign to “restore the truth when our country is unjustly attacked.”
The National Council also asks that the government make it an “absolute priority” to “use all possible means to acquire a very significant number of vaccine doses as soon as possible”, arguing that the Principality of Monaco, given its size, should be acting as a model for the rest of the world.
It would like to see all sports activities in schools, sports associations and sports halls resume under strict health conditions, and it is calling on the State to consider the medium and long-term health effects of Covid-19 in future public health policies.
“The elected representatives, by this Resolution, wish to reiterate the full confidence of Monegasques and residents in the capacity of the Monegasque State to overcome this crisis. They believe, one year after the onset of the health crisis, that the strength of the Principality’s institutional, political, economic and social model has once again been demonstrated,” the resolution concludes. “The best possible balance has been found between the necessary protection of the health of the population and the maintenance, as far as possible, of sustained economic activity and essential social life. This is why elected officials consider that Monaco now has the means to look to the future by becoming a model for exiting the crisis.”
At the end of the extraordinary meeting, Minister of State Pierre Dartout announced three new government measures that are due to come into force in the coming days.
He said that the Principality will receive 5,850 new doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week and that they will be given “as quickly as possible to those aged over 55”.
The minister of state also said that following a successful testing phase, saliva tests will become available from Monday at the Espace Léo Ferre screening centre and reiterated his government’s call for all returning travellers to get tested.
Finally, Mr Dartout announced that the CTTR temporary unemployment scheme will be extended until 30thJune 2021.
 
Related stories:

Monaco to boost arsenal with AstraZeneca vaccine

 
Photo of Wednesday’s extraordinary session by the National Council of Monaco
 
 

Four million more doses

by: Stephanie Horsman
11/03/2021

The European Commission has come to an agreement with BioNTech-Pfizer to supply four million additional Covid-19 vaccinations to Member State’s hotspots, including Nice, in an effort to slow the spread and keep free movement between borders.
The growing number of hotspots across Europe are being attributed to the newer variants of the virus, which are significantly more contagious than the earlier version and are harder to control without total lockdowns, something many governments are reluctant to do.
“The BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine has proven highly effective against all currently known variants of the Covid-19 virus,” President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement on Wednesday. “I’m happy to announce today an agreement with BioNTech-Pfizer, who will make available to Member States a total of four million doses of vaccines before the end of March, which will be supplied in addition to the planned dose deliveries.”
According to the European Commission, the increase in dose deliveries is due to the successful expansion of manufacturing capacities in Europe, which was completed by mid-February.
All of the four-million doses are expected to be delivered within a matter of weeks.
It comes as welcome news to one of the biggest hotspots, Monaco’s French neighbour the Alpes-Maritimes department, which has seen a staggering rise in hospitalisations and infections in the past few weeks. As a result, the hard-hit region is now facing its third weekend lockdown in a row.
On a positive note, death rates in the EU are generally down. This is primarily attributed to the vaccine rollouts with elderly and vulnerable people being prioritised. The additional four million vaccinations will not come at the expense of scheduled deliveries of doses, allowing normal progression of rollouts to continue.
 
 
Photo source: Pixabay
 
 

Ferrari reveals Leclerc’s new wheels

by: Stephanie Horsman
11/03/2021

Ferrari has unveiled its new Formula 1 car which will be driven by Charles Leclerc and Carlo Sainz for the 2021-22 racing season and which they hope is a vast improvement on last season’s disappointing model.

After a ridiculously bad season in 2020-21, Ferrari has completely revamped its newest Formula 1 car with a new powertrain – last year’s biggest weakness – a more aerodynamic chassis and a different layout of internal power unit components in the hope they can recapture their magic.

The new car, called the SF21, will be piloted by Team Ferrari’s stars Charles Leclerc and the newly arrived Carlos Sainz Jr, who replaced Sebastian Vettel at the end of last season.

Ferrari’s new SF21

Ferrari’s signature red dominates the exterior, with a bit of burgundy blending in toward the back end, in a nod to the team’s early days and their 1,000th Grand Prix look to go along with the new streamlined appearance. The rear of the car dramatically curves inward, and the floor features carbon fibre work new for this season. The nose has also been significantly altered with two louvred wings and a bit of a nose job to improve airflow.

Above the driver’s head are newly designed airbox inlets. Still triangular in shape, they are split down the middle with two smaller intakes on each side, indicating more cooling components above the engine. This design allows more space in the sidepods, which are decidedly trimmer.

With this new car and a new team, Ferrari may be in a better position to recapture their mojo in the upcoming Formula 1 season.

 
 

Electronic signatures for Monaco businesses

by: Stephanie Horsman
11/03/2021

The government is now offering Monaco’s businesses the option to use their new digital certificate delivery service as the next step toward the country’s total digital transition.

Digital certificate delivery services, more widely known as electronic signatures, are now online and ready to use in Monaco.

The government, in partnership with the Monegasque Digital Security Agency, the company in charge of Monaco’s information systems security, has developed this option for professionals who have made, or are making, the leap to a paperless system.

An electronic signature is the same as a handwritten signature for “dematerialised” documents. The signature is just as valid as one done by hand as it has been specifically signed by an identified representative of a company and can be used for documents like pay slips, voucher orders, invoices or contracts with suppliers.

This latest step is in line with the Principality’s Extended Monaco digital transition programme and the accompanying law passed in December 2019 to help facilitate the transition.

“The electronic signature represents an important issue in the digital transition of Monegasque companies as part of the country’s economic recovery plan,” says Minister of Finance and the Economy, Jean Castellini. “This measure allows optimised, identified and more secure exchanges between the various stakeholders. It establishes a common base for electronic interactions between citizens, businesses and public authorities.”

For end users, there are certain benefits attached to this kind of system. Sending documents online is a time and space saver. Companies no longer need to stock paper, use printers or physically archive documents. This eco-friendly approach is also easy to use, as the government is supplying a USB key reader and Adobe Acrobat Reader free of charge to those who sign up for the service.

The signatures have “enhanced security” measures built-in. Every signature is guaranteed to be authentic and cannot be questioned by either party, so the documents can be trusted by both parties to be binding.

Additionally, as more work is being done remotely, this option ensures the wheels of business continue to roll smoothly forward instantly, without worry for health and safety concerns or long delays involving courier or postal services.

Perhaps it is best summed up by Frédéric Genta, Interministerial Delegate in charge of the Digital Transition, who said: “The electronic signature will simplify the life of companies and users of the Principality, for all the daily acts which require a signature. Monaco thus joins technologically advanced states which have already deployed similar initiatives. For our companies, it means more security, speed, savings and space savings, all the more so in a context where distance has become the norm.”

 
Photo by Stephane Danna, Government Communication Department