Thursday, April 29, 2021
UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, has confirmed that an NHS app is all set to become a COVID-19 passport once travel resumes. The government is currently hoping to reopen international borders to leisure travel from May 17, with confirmation expected in the coming days.
Officials are planning to launch a ‘traffic light’ system, with safe countries rated as ‘green’, and countries with risk of numbers COVID-19 cases marked ‘red’, where travel will be prohibited. Shapps mentioned that countries that the rating list of each country will be revealed in the forthcoming weeks.
However, even travellers to the safest ‘green’ countries will still need to undergo a COVID-19 test before their departure, as well as on their return to the UK. Shapps confirmed the NHS app will be used to allow Britons to demonstrate whether they have had a COVID-19 jab, or tested negative for the virus, before travelling abroad. The app will not be the NHS COVID-19 app – currently used to check in to venues such as pubs and restaurants for contact-tracing purposes. It will instead be the NHS app used to book general appointments
Shapps said in his statement that it will be the NHS app that is used for people when they book appointments with the NHS and so on, to be able to show that they have had a vaccine or that they have been tested. He shared that he is working internationally with partners across the world to make sure that system can be internationally recognised.
Tags: Coronavirus, Covid-19, NHS, UK, UK Tourism
