Travel, Health Passport: London Unveils Its New Rules

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday unveils new rules for international travel and a controversial health passport project to accompany a very gradual return of the United Kingdom to normalcy after long months of restrictions. The conservative leader intends to maintain a cautious approach, for fear of compromising the success of a massive anti-Covid vaccination campaign on which the most bereaved country in Europe, with nearly 127,000 dead, is basing all its hopes.

“We have made tremendous progress over the past few months with our vaccination program and everyone in the country has made huge sacrifices so that we can reach this stage of our recovery from Covid-19,” he said. he said in a statement. “We are doing everything possible to allow the reopening of our country (…) in the safest way possible”, he added.

A classification of countries at risk

For Britons who have long been forced to stay at home and very keen to go on holiday abroad this summer, which is prohibited until May 17 at the earliest, he will present a traffic light system to classify countries according to the degree of advancement. their vaccination, their contamination rate or the presence of worrying variants. This is not to jeopardize the campaign which has already fully immunized around 5.4 million people and delivered more than 31.5 million first doses in the UK, almost half of the total population, since early December.

Green destinations will be exempt from quarantine on return – a test before departure and after arrival will however be required – unlike orange and red countries. Downing Street, however, said it was still premature to compile a list of countries, and continues to advise against bookings abroad. Currently, all travelers arriving in the UK must complete a ten-day hotel quarantine for at-risk countries, and borders are closed to non-residents coming from a country on the red list.

A health passport for mass gatherings?

To keep the virus under control, the government is also planning to test a health passport system for mass gatherings in England, such as football matches and indoor events. This certificate would indicate that a person has been vaccinated, is negative for the coronavirus or has antibodies. It will not be required in public transport and essential shops, the reopening of which is scheduled for April 12 at the same time as the terraces of pubs.

Several pilot tests will be launched from mid-April, notably for the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium. But this health passport project is also cringe, and it was greeted with hostility by more than 70 British deputies from all over the political spectrum, who deemed it “discriminatory” – enough to potentially fail in the event of a vote. in Parliament. Additional measure to facilitate the reopening of society and “break the chains of transmission”, the inhabitants of England will be able from Friday to access two rapid screening tests per week.