Photographer: Chris J. Ratcliffe / Bloomberg
Photographer: Chris J. Ratcliffe / Bloomberg
Everyone in England will be urged to take a twice weekly coronavirus test as a new system of Covid passports is being assessed for widespread use, under Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to reopen the economy after lockdown.
Free test kits will be made available through local pharmacies, community centers and home delivery services when the new regime takes effect on April 9.
Now that most of the adult population has received a vaccine, the government believes rapid population-wide testing and a system of Covid status certification will help keep the pandemic under control as restrictions are relaxed.
Johnson will set out the details later on Monday, ahead of the next step in removing curbs for businesses and citizens due April 12.
“The British public has made enormous efforts to stop the spread of the virus,” Johnson said in a statement from his office. “As we continue to make good progress with our vaccine program and with our roadmap to gently ease restrictions, regular rapid testing is even more important to ensure that those efforts are not wasted.”
The UK has suffered the highest death toll in Europe as a result of the pandemic and is still reeling from its deepest recession in 300 years.
A vaccination program that has quickly outpaced the rest of Europe has seen 31.5 million people so far given at least one injection, placing the UK in a good position to reopen, even as nearby countries such as France are locked again to go.
According to Johnson’s plans:
- International travel may resume, possibly as early as May 17, with a new one “Traffic light” system that codes countries as red, orange or green, based on their pandemic risks. Risk classifications take into account a country’s vaccination program, number of infections, virus strains and sequencing capacity
- UK arrivals from green countries do not need to insulate but will have to undergo pre-departure and post-arrival tests. Quarantine and isolation rules apply to passengers entering the country from places on the red and orange lists
- A certification system with Covid status – often referred to as a Covid passport – will be developed in the coming months, allowing riskier venues such as sporting events, nightclubs and theaters to reopen
- Covid certificates, which can be on paper or via a smartphone app, will be tested at mass events in the coming weeks, including top football matches and other sporting occasions; pubs, shops and restaurants do not need to use certification to reopen
- An evaluation of social distance will consider when families can hug each other again, and whether Covid passports can see the distance guidelines being lifted.
Many of the measures in Johnson’s plan will have to be approved in parliament. Johnson is likely to face conflicting demands from some of his own Conservative Party colleagues to lift the blockage faster, while more than 70 MPs campaign to combat vaccine passports, citing concerns about the erosion of freedoms.