Lisbon, Jun 17 (IANS): The Portuguese health authorities have started issuing the European Union) Digital Covid Certificate, which will allow free transit in the bloc's 27 member countries as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the authorities said that the so-called "Covid-19 passport" will be granted to those who have already been vaccinated, recovered from the disease, and those who present a negative result in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Certificate can be requested and received over the internet free of charge for Portuguese residents.

It is also available through a smartphone application integrated with other EU countries.

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, on her visit to Portugal on Wednesday, was the first to publicly test the system.

"I am now starting my tour of the 27 Member States within the framework of 'NextGenerationEU', our recovery and resilience plan, and I am very curious to test and see how this certificate works," she said, adding that the system is already in use in 15 member states.

Portugal has administered at least 6.96 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines so far, according to the health authorities.