LONDON (AP) – Britain’s slow but steady march out of a three-month lockdown remains on track even as coronavirus cases increase elsewhere in Europe, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Monday, confirming that businesses from hairdressers to bookstores may reopen . next week.
However, Johnson said it is too early to decide whether UK residents can take summer trips abroad. He confirmed that the government will test a controversial “vaccine passport” system – a way for people to prove they have protection against COVID-19 – as a tool to help travel and major events return safely.
Four weeks after England took the first step out of the lockdown by reopening schools, Johnson said Britain’s vaccination program is going well and infections are on the decline. He said the next step would come as planned on April 12, with the reopening of hairdressers, beauty salons, gyms, non-essential stores and bar and restaurant patios.
“We’ve mapped out our roadmap and we’re sticking to it,” Johnson said at a news conference.
But, he added: ‘We can’t be complacent. We can see the waves of disease plaguing other countries, and we have seen how this story unfolds. “
A ban on overnight stays outside the UK will also be lifted on April 12, and outdoor venues such as zoos and drive-in cinemas could be operational again.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland follow similar but slightly different paths outside of lockdown.
Britain has recorded nearly 127,000 deaths from the coronavirus, the highest toll in Europe. But infections and deaths have both fallen sharply during the current lockdown and since the start of a vaccination campaign that gave a first dose to more than 31 million people, or six in ten adults.
The government is aiming to give all adults at least one vaccination syringe by July and hopes that a combination of vaccination and mass testing will make it possible to regain indoor cosiness and large-scale events.
It says all adults and children in England will be encouraged to have routine coronavirus testing twice a week as a way to eradicate new outbreaks. The government said free lateral flow tests will be available for free by mail, pharmacies and workplaces starting Friday.
Lateral flow tests give results in minutes, but are less accurate than the PCR swab tests used to officially confirm cases of COVID-19. But the government insists they are reliable and will help find people who contract the virus but have no symptoms.
Britons are currently prohibited by law from going on holiday abroad under the extraordinary powers that Parliament has given the government to combat the pandemic. The government said on Monday it will not lift the travel ban before May 17 – and maybe later.
“The government is hoping that people will be able to travel to and from the UK for summer holidays this year, but it is too early to know what’s possible,” said an official update.
Once travel resumes, Britain will rank countries on a traffic light system as green, yellow or red based on their vaccination rates, infections and worrying new virus variants. People coming from “green” countries will have to be tested, but not quarantined.
The government is also testing a system of “COVID status certification” – often called “vaccine passports” – that allows people who want to travel or attend events to demonstrate that they have either received a coronavirus vaccine, been tested negative for the virus, or had recently had COVID-19 and therefore some immunity.
A series of events kick off this month, including football matches, comedy shows and marathon races. The government said early events will depend only on testing, “but in later pilots, vaccination and acquired immunity are expected to be alternative ways to demonstrate status.”
The issue of vaccine passports has been hotly debated around the world, raising questions about how many governments, employers and locations have the right to know about a person’s virus status. The idea has been opposed by a wide range of British lawmakers, from left-wing opposition politicians to members of Johnson’s conservative party, and the policy could meet fierce opposition when it goes to Parliament later this month.
Conservative lawmaker Graham Brady said vaccine passports would be “intrusive, expensive and unnecessary”. The leader of the opposition Labor Party, Keir Starmer, called the idea ‘un-British’.
The government said vaccine passports were almost inevitable, as many countries would certainly require proof of COVID-19 status for entry. And it said preventing UK companies from asking customers for similar evidence would be “an unjustified violation of the way companies choose to make their buildings safe.”
However, the government said vaccine passports would never be necessary to access “essential public services, public transportation and essential shops.”
Johnson acknowledged that vaccine passports raise “complex ethical and practical issues” and stressed that their introduction was not imminent.
“We are far from finished with plans for COVID certification in the UK,” he said.
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