London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Oct 03, 2025

Covid: Passports showing vaccine status would be time-limited, says minister

Covid: Passports showing vaccine status would be time-limited, says minister

Any "Covid passport" scheme to prove people in England are safe to attend mass-audience events would be "time-limited", the government said.

A "Covid status certification" scheme is being developed to enable concerts and sporting matches to take place.

It would record whether people had been vaccinated, recently tested negative or had natural immunity, having already had a bout of coronavirus.

The government is also trialling other ways of holding mass events safely.

Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston said the trials would be a "learning experience" and no decisions had been made about processes or vaccine certification.

Improved ventilation and testing before and after events are among the other approaches being tested for mass gatherings and indoor events, including sports matches and nightclubs.

Mr Huddleston said the PM would receive a report on all the trial events at the end of May.

The pilot events - which include the FA Cup final, the World Snooker Championship, cinema screenings and nightclub events - will take place up until mid-May.

The NHS is said to be working on a system to allow people to demonstrate their Covid vaccination status through an app or paper certificate.

For people who have not yet been vaccinated, it could record any recent negative tests, or whether they have tested positive in the last six months and are likely to have natural immunity.

The FA Cup final will require certification but some of the venues stressed they would not be involved in trialling the so-called Covid passports proposed by the government.

Paul Blair, co-owner of the Hot Water Comedy Club in Liverpool which is due to host the very first event, said his club faced the "worst negative press we've ever had" when it was wrongly reported certification would be used at his event.

He told the BBC that one person sent a message saying they hoped the owners would "catch Covid and die", while several messages seemingly organised by a conspiracy theorist group accused the club of practising "medical apartheid".

Instead of using Covid passports, his event will involve testing audience members before and after the show as part of a scientific experiment to ensure that it will be safe to reopen without social distancing after 21 June.

"The sole reason we are doing this is to help prove it's safe for live venues to open," he said, adding that it would apply to people regardless of their vaccine status.

Another series of events to be piloted in Liverpool will be three open-air cinema nights put on by Luna Cinema, with around 1,000 people expected each time.

George Wood, the cinema's founder, told the BBC they would aim to run the screenings "in a way that will be allowing people not to think about social distancing".

"For just those few hours when they come to the event, it'll be back to pre-Covid restriction levels, where people will be able to sit next to each other and enjoy a film on a big screen," he said.

He added that detail on how testing will work at the events will come out in the next few days.



More than 31.5 million people have received a first dose of a Covid vaccine and nearly 5.4m have received both jabs, but most people vaccinated so far are over 50.

The government said it was also working with clinical and ethical experts on exemptions for people for whom vaccination is not advised and repeat testing would be difficult.

Businesses in England which can reopen in the coming weeks, including pubs, restaurants and non-essential retail will not have to use the system for now.

However, sources say requiring a certificate to access hospitality further down the line - perhaps to reduce the need for social distancing - has not been ruled out.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the government was doing everything it could to ensure people could return to events and travel "as safely as possible".

Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove, who is leading a review into the use of Covid passports, has called certification for international travel an "inevitability".

It could also be a "valuable aid" in reopening parts of the domestic economy faster, he wrote in the Sunday Telegraph.

However, critics, including more than 40 Tory MPs and privacy campaigners, have suggested a Covid passport scheme could be "discriminatory and counterproductive".

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who now sits as an independent, and senior Tory Iain Duncan Smith are among a broad coalition of MPs who have pledged their opposition.

While the proposed plans cover England only, the government is discussing the scheme with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The plans come as the UK reported another 2,297 cases and 10 deaths - although Wales and Northern Ireland did not report data for that 24-hour period.

On Monday, the prime minister is expected to outline plans for easing restrictions on international travel, involving a "traffic light" system for rating the virus risk of international destinations.

International travel will not be allowed until 17 May at the earliest.

But the government said the traffic-light system would "help ensure the UK's vaccine progress isn't jeopardised and provide clear guidance" when travel resumes.

People coming back from countries in the green category will not have to self-isolate on their return, although pre-departure and post-arrival tests will still be required.



For countries assigned red and amber, restrictions would remain as they are now, with arrivals required to enter quarantine or self-isolation.

The list of countries included in each category will only be announced nearer the launch date, and the government continues to advise people not to book summer holidays abroad.

Industry body Airlines UK, which has been calling for a similar system, said travel could take place "proportionately and in a risk-based way" without "opening up the border to every country out there".

Chief executive Tim Alderslade said: "There are tens of thousands of jobs dependent upon aviation and restarting travel, and the sector cannot survive another lost summer with little or no revenue."

Also expected on Monday are details of a review into social distancing, which is examining when distancing requirements and the guidance to "work from home if possible" could be lifted.


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×