Coronavirus passports to go to the pub? Ministers to investigate ‘Covid status certification’

Vaccine passports could be required to enter pubs, restaurants and other venues after Boris Johnson announced a review into their use.

He said that  the work will look at whether to introduce ‘Covid status certification’, despite Downing Street insisting for weeks that such domestic documents would not be supported.

It was one of four reviews announced by the Prime Minister in the Commons today.

Announcing the move to MPs Mr Johnson said the review would examine whether the certificates would be useful ‘in helping venues to open safely – but mindful of the many concerns surrounding exclusion, discrimination and privacy’.

Officials recognise that there are moral and ethical questions as well as practical ones for any such move, which has been highly controversial in Westminster.

A research programme will use pilot schemes involving testing and other measures to run events with larger crowd sizes. 

International travel rules will also be reviewed, with May 17 targeted as the earliest possible date for a foreign holiday.

A further piece of work to conclude by June 21 will examine social distancing requirements – including hugs with friends and relatives – the use of face masks and requirements to work from home.

The measures are expected to be put to a Commons vote before the House rises for Easter in late March.

Mr Johnson continued: ‘In view of these cautious but, I hope, irreversible changes, people may be concerned about what these changes mean for the various support packages for livelihoods, for people and the economy.

‘So I want to reassure the House we will not pull the rug out – for the duration of the pandemic the Government will continue to do whatever it takes to protect jobs and livelihoods across the UK.

‘And the Chancellor will set out further details in the Budget next Wednesday.’