By Ben Kerrigan-
Ministers are set to scrap plans for vaccine passports at large events after lockdown is lifted.
The government is planning to abandon the idea of introducing them for mass events, according to the Daily Mail, although organizers of events such as the Premier League will be allowed to run their own schemes.
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Brits would be able to skip the need to quarantine if they have had both jabs, show a negative test before departure or if they can prove they’ve had coronavirus in the past 180 days.
Boris Johnson has said he is ‘increasingly confident’ that the country will be able to fully reopen from July 19, completing the final step of his ‘roadmap’ out of lockdown.
The Prime Minister told his cabinet on Monday that the success of Britain’s vaccine rollout means people will be able to ‘live with Covid’.
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This is because the jab has broken the link between coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, he said.
A government source said the reopening will go ahead even if cases are double the current level.
It comes as a World Health Organization (WHO) special envoy on Covid-19 warned against ditching all remaining protections against the virus on a “particular date”.
Discussing concerns over a new variant emerging that evades vaccines, Dr David Nabarro told Radio 4’s PM programme: “We’re going to have to really seriously contemplate continuing to practice some degree of physical distancing, some degree of mask wearing, some degree of hygiene, some degree of protecting those who are most at risk, as long as there are these nasty viruses around, whether or not we’re vaccinated.
“It makes people very angry because they want to be able to stop being careful but…it is not a cool thing just to ditch our preventative measures on a particular date because we hope that’s going to be associated with less risks – the risks are going to stay.”
Michael Gove said people will have to live with Covid in ‘the way that we live with flu’, which claims thousands of deaths each winter but does not require society and the economy to be locked down.
The shift in position follows the appointment of Sajid Javid as Health Secretary following Matt Hancock’s resignation. In a declaration of intent, Mr Javid used his first Commons appearance on Monday to drive home the message that it was time to ‘start returning to normal’ after 15 months of crippling curbs.
It is looking unlikely that we will have to make Covid certification compulsory, even for mass events,’ a government source told The Daily Mail
‘It will be needed for foreign travel and some events may choose to run their own schemes, but it does not look like we will need legislation at this stage.
‘The work has not been wasted. It will be needed for travel and we will have a system in place which could be used if we need it in the winter.’ Indeed, plans for widespread use of the passports could be revived in the event of another major wave of Covid. This would allow venues to stay open even if cases soar dramatically. No 10 said the PM was ‘increasingly confident’ there would be no need for further delays to lifting curbs on our freedoms.
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