Full details of UK Medical Apartheid scheme revealed

The government is planning to trial a Covid passport scheme to Passes would show if a person had been vaccinated, had a recent negative test, or natural immunity.

The pilots, which will include the FA Cup final, will last until mid-May.

But some of the listed events will not be trialling vaccination certification.

The pilots will include the FA Cup semi final and final in London’s Wembley Stadium, the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield, a mass participation run at Hatfield House in Hertfordshire, and several events in Liverpool including an evening at a nightclub, a business conference and a cinema screening in the city.

The first pilot event will be a comedy night in Liverpool on 16 April where audience members will be tested for Covid before and after the show.

Iain Buchan, of the University of Liverpool, will be helping to run testing for the Liverpool-based trials. He said taking part in the Liverpool pilots would involve “giving your consent to take part when you book a ticket; receiving text messages about hands, face, space, fresh air; minimising unnecessary contacts before the event; getting tested within 36 hours, ideally as close to the event as possible; ideally having a test earlier in the week”.

Buchan added: “Don’t go on the day if you have any symptoms. All the events will be in very well ventilated places and the ventilation will be studied, and people will asked to minimise contacts and get another test five days after, for the purpose of research.”

Johnson said: “We have made huge strides over the past few months with our vaccine programme and everyone in the country has made huge sacrifices to get us to this stage in our recovery from Covid-19.

“We are doing everything we can to enable the reopening of our country so people can return to the events, travel and other things they love as safely as possible.”

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said certification for international travel will be an “inevitability”, and it could also be a “valuable aid” in reopening parts of the domestic economy faster.

Gove, who is leading the review into the use of Covid passports, said: “Unless the government takes a lead we risk others establishing the rules of the road. So where should the lines be drawn to help protect freedoms, respect privacy, promote equality and get us back to normality?”