LONDON (AP) – Britain’s slow but steady march for a three-month closure continues on track, even as coronavirus cases rise elsewhere in Europe, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Monday , which confirmed that business reopening from barbershops to bookstores will be allowed next week.
Johnson said it is too early to decide, however, whether UK residents will be able to make summer trips abroad. He confirmed that the government will test a conflicting “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 its first step out of closure by reopening schools, Johnson said Britain’s vaccination program was still going well and infections were dwindling. He said the next step will come as planned on April 12, with the reopening of hairdressers, beauty salons, gyms, non-essential shops and bar and restaurant courtyards.
“We set our roadmap and stick to it,” Johnson said during a press conference.
But, he added, “we cannot be complacent. We can see the waves of disease that afflict other countries and we have seen how this story goes.
The ban on overnight stays in England will also be lifted on 12 April and outdoor venues such as zoos and cinemas with direct access will be able to operate again.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland follow similar but slightly different paths outside the closure.
Britain has recorded nearly 127,000 coronavirus deaths, the highest number in Europe. But infections and deaths have dropped dramatically during the current closure and since the start of a vaccination campaign that has given a first dose to more than 31 million people, or six out of 10 adults.
The government aims to offer all adults at least one vaccine before July and hopes a combination of vaccination and mass testing will allow for internal socialization and large-scale events.
It is said that all adults and children in England will be encouraged to do routine coronavirus testing twice a week as a way to eliminate new outbreaks. The government said free side-flow tests will be available for free starting Friday by mail, from pharmacies and at workplaces.
Lateral flow tests give results in minutes, but are less accurate than PCR swab tests used to officially confirm COVID-19 cases. But the government insists they are reliable and will help find people who contract the virus but have no symptoms.
Currently, by law, the British are prohibited from going on holiday abroad under the extraordinary powers that Parliament has granted to the government to fight the pandemic. The government said Monday it will not lift the travel ban until May 17, and perhaps later.
“The government hopes people can travel to and from the UK to take a summer holiday this year, but it is still too early to know what is possible,” he said in an official update.
Once the trip resumes, Britain will classify countries in a system of traffic lights as green, yellow or red based on their level of vaccinations, infections and worrying new virus variants. People arriving from “green” countries will have to be tested but will not be quarantined.
The government is also testing a “COVID state certification” system, often called “vaccine passports,” that would allow people who want to travel or attend events to prove they have already received a coronavirus vaccine, have been negative for the virus or recently had COVID-19 and therefore have some immunity.
This month will see the start of a series of events, including football matches, comedy shows and marathon races. The government said the first events will only depend on the tests, “but in subsequent pilots vaccination and acquired immunity are expected to be alternative ways to prove the condition.”
The issue of vaccine passports has been widely debated around the world, raising questions about how much governments, employers and places are entitled to know a person’s virus status. The idea is opposed by a wide range of British lawmakers, from center-left opposition politicians to members of Johnson’s Conservative party, and politics could face stiff opposition when it comes to Parliament. at the end of 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 “British”.
The government said vaccine passports were almost inevitable, as many countries required COVID-19 state testing for entry. And he said banning British companies from soliciting similar evidence from customers would be “an unwarranted intrusion on how companies choose to protect their premises”.
The government said, however, that vaccine passports would never be needed to access “essential public services, public transport and essential shops.”
Johnson acknowledged that vaccine passports posed “complicated ethical and practical issues” and stressed that their introduction was not imminent.
“We are at some point in finalizing any COVID certification plan in the UK,” he said.
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