Shanghai residents who need to provide a notarized COVID-19 vaccination record when traveling abroad for studies or family visits can now apply for it online.

Over the past few months, young Chinese students traveling to study in countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada have been required to provide notarized COVID-19 vaccination records, said Chen Mingxun, president of the Shanghai Notary Association, who is also director of the city's Changning District Notary Office.

"All the students who have been inoculated with the two domestically-developed vaccines that are approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization can apply for notarization online. We'll check their vaccination records with the medical institutions immediately and provide notarization documents," he said.

Zhang Chengbin, head of the notary work management division at the Shanghai Bureau of Justice, said that applicants of notarized documents for matters with simple legal relationships and clear facts no longer need to be physically present at the notarization offices.

The number of notarization applications that require people to go to the notary offices only once have also risen from 103 last year to 200 this year.

The bureau said that there are currently eight notary offices in the city that provide such streamlined services, and the number will rise to 20 by the end of this year.