Egypt COVID-19 Vaccine Certificate Now Available in Hurghada

by Walter Cuypers, Belgian resident of Hurghada

On Saturday July 31, 2021 the "Health Bureau Hurghada" opened a new office to convert your Vaccine Follow-up Card into a COVID-19 VACCINE CERTIFICATE with a digital QR code.

The office is staffed with 6 health workers, all dedicated to get you a QR code within less than an hour. The office is opened workdays between 3 PM and 9 PM. You are welcome in this office from the day you have two vaccinations registered on the back of your Egyptian Vaccine Follow-up Card (1 vaccination for Johnson & Johnson).

The building has no reception desk and there is no information board outside. You might have the impression you arrive at the wrong building. My visit was only 4 days after the opening, I hope they will improve it with some directions and arrows. For the time being... continue reading...

Enter the front door, go straight through the building to the back court and then turn left to find to the office room. The office door will be closed to keep the room cool. Just open the door and give only your passport to a health worker. There is no need to present your Egyptian Vaccine Follow-up Card: your personal vaccinations are already registered in their computer system under your name.

Other Egyptians and foreign residents are waiting on the benches on the back court and will be served first. So first thing to do when you arrive is to hand over your passport so that you are added to the waiting queue (first come, first served). Take a seat on a bench and wait for your turn. Bring some drinking water with you, even when the back court is partly covered it is still quite hot in the afternoon. You can escape the heat and move back to the front entrance of the building : full afternoon shade and a nice sea breeze.

As a foreign resident you have to pay 160 EGP (10 USD) for the administration cost. Egyptians pay 100 EGP. Try to pay with 100+20+20+20 notes, otherwise the cash register will run out of 20 pound notes fast when everybody pays with 200.

Don't go to the wrong building, this area has three health offices!

The right building.

• The small building of the Health Bureau Hurghada is located just across the Red Sea Aquarium Boulevard Apartment Hotel on the El Kornish Street (El-Bahr) in the beach area of Dahar. On Google maps just type "Health Bureau Hurghada".

The wrong buildings :

• Behind the small building of the "Health Bureau Hurghada" there is the large building complex of the "Hurghada General Hospital". Don't go to this General Hospital and also don't go to the "Health Affairs Directorate Red Sea" just across the General Hospital (at the Dolphin roundabout).

EGYPT DIGITAL COVID-19 VACCINE CERTIFICATE

To summarize the things you need to carry with you:

international passport
100+20+20+20 EGP bank notes
drinking water

Some extra remarks :

• European COVID-19 VACCINE CERTIFICATE

The European member states will issue an EU certificate to their citizens, even if the latter have been vaccinated in another country, including in third countries like Egypt. In order for the traveler to be able to get the EU certificate, he/she should be vaccinated with one of the EU-approved vaccines. You can use your Egyptian certificate to prove this.

• International traveling

When you arrive in Egypt from abroad you will use your Egyptian digital certificate. You don’t need a PCR test anymore to enter Egypt.

If you leave Egypt, it is unlikely that the Egyptian certificate is accepted at the airport of your final destination abroad. A PCR test may still be needed before departure or at arrival. Inquire with your airline carrier about the current entry procedures of your destination country.

• Give your certificate a safe place

I advise to paste the printed QR code certificate inside your international passport. The backside of the certificate is completely blank. You can fold the certificate vertically in the middle (not on the QR code!) and put some glue on the back of the left side. Paste it in your international passport on one of the last VISAS empty pages. So it will never slide out of your passport and you can safely fold out the QR code. I can’t imagine that you keep your Egyptian QR code in a different place than your international passport.

• Smartphone app

On the Google Play Store an app "Egypt Health Passport" should become available soon. You can download and install that app on your smartphone. For international traveling the smartphone app is not needed : you can use the printed QR code of the Egyptian certificate to return to Egypt.