UK live coronavirus: Vaccine passports for pubs possible as over 50s urged to book Covid jab

Downing Street said there would be an “initial update” on the progress of the coronavirus vaccination passport review next month, but a full report is yet to be delivered in June.

The prime minister’s official spokesperson told reporters: “When we published the roadmap, we established our review of the Covid status certification and made it clear at that point that we would be looking at testing or vaccination in terms of the role that any of they could play in reopening our economy.

“As we said before, the CDL (Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove) is leading that work and it will be completed before step four, which is June 21.

“But as the prime minister said this morning, you can expect an initial update in early April.”

He added: “As we said at the time, the review will consider all ethical, privacy, legal and operational aspects of this approach and work is ongoing.”

Greene King’s CEO is the latest boss to criticize Boris Johnson’s proposals on vaccine passports for bars.

Nick Mackenzie said: “Banning customers who have not received a vaccine would be totally unfeasible, would add significant cost and make pubs unfeasible at a time when the industry plans to start rebuilding after all restrictions on as of June 21, as detailed in the Government’s roadmap.

“Such a measure would be impractical, it could be discriminatory and it is unacceptable that our team members, half of whom are under the age of 25, have to monitor these measures and deal with the consequences of the significant number of clients who have not received a vaccine.

“Our industry needs certainty as we work towards a gradual and safe reopening as of April 12.

“Floating proposals without consultation and full consideration of the implications is disappointing and has a huge impact on people who work in pubs and just want to get back to serving customers. It is vital that the government stick to its schedule with a full and unrestricted reopening starting June 21.

“While a vaccine passport system may be viable for international travel and large-scale events, it would be devastating for pubs.”

Michael Gove chose to quote Emerson in his answer.

Of the 33,266 people transferred to the Test and Trace system in the week through March 17, 90.0% were contacted and asked to provide details of recent close contacts.

This is slightly higher than the 89.2% of the previous week.

About 9.7% of people transferred to Test and Trace in the week to March 17 were not contacted, while another 0.4% did not provide any communication details.

Boris Johnson was questioned about reports that he told Conservative MPs that the vaccine’s success was due to capitalism and “greed, folks.”

The Prime Minister stated that “obviously that is not what I said”, but highlighted the role that companies played in making the project a success.

He told reporters that it was partly due to the government’s role, but that “it was also thanks to free enterprise and big business that they decided to risk investing their investment in gambles that they didn’t know would be worth it, which is basically capitalism. . all about, and producing a life changing result ”.

“So what matters is the combination.”

Approximately 7.6 million lateral flow device (LFD) tests for Covid-19, or rapid tests, were carried out in England in the week ending March 17, according to the latest figures from Test and Trace, the Highest weekly total since rapid tests began and highest from 6.3 million the previous week.

The Health Department said the increase coincides with the return of high school students to school.

LFD tests are swab tests that give results in 30 minutes or less, without the need for laboratory processing.

In contrast, 1.0 million polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests were performed in the week through March 17, the lowest number from the week through October 7, 2020.

PCR tests are smear tests that are processed in a laboratory.

This is the eighth week in a row that more LFD tests have been performed than PCR tests.

Patrick Dardis, Young’s CEO, 190-year-old pub owner and brewer, said the possibility of mandatory shots for pubs “is not feasible and the government should stay out of it.”

“We do not support this idea,” he added. “At this time, the Government should focus on encouraging people to enjoy their summer holidays in the UK instead of going abroad.

“This will be a much greater benefit to the economy than opening up the huge risk of bringing Covid variants to the UK from abroad.

“It’s exactly how the pandemic entered the UK in the first place.”

The number of people in the UK living in poverty hit a record just before the coronavirus pandemic started, the figures show. A total of 14.5 million people were estimated to have relatively low incomes, below 60% of median household income, in the year through March 2020.

This was slightly up from 14.4 million the previous year, but one million more than the equivalent figure a decade earlier in 2009/10.

The number of children living in poverty also hit a record in 2019/20, a year-on-year increase from 4.1 million to 4.3 million.

But figures, released by the Department for Work and Pensions, show that median household income “increased significantly” before the pandemic, from £ 455 per week in 2018/19 to £ 476 in 2019/20, after costs. of housing.

Votes by mail for the May elections will not have to be quarantined, confirmed a minister from the Cabinet Office.

Conservative Bob Blackman (Harrow East) asked, “Can (Chloe Smith) just provide an update on the actions she’s taking to make sure both counting is secure as well as mail-in ballots are handled appropriately, particularly? during the pandemic? “

Cabinet Office Minister Ms. Smith responded: “I can also assure (Mr. Blackman) that we will continue to provide guidance to provide support in other areas of the general electoral process, including, for example, around voting for mail.

“And I could take this opportunity to emphasize that mail ballots and other documents do not need to be quarantined, contrary to some recent media reports, and that has also been clarified by the Election Commission and others.”

Publicans have rejected Boris Johnson’s suggestion that he could let them decide whether to only allow clients who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus. Chain boss Shepherd Neame said Thursday that making jabs mandatory to enter pubs is a “pretty bad idea” as ministers review the possible use of health certificates.

Trading bodies said conditioning access to hits is “simply impractical” and would cause a “conflict” between staff and bettors.

Conservative lockdown skeptic Steve Baker further warned that the measure could create a “two-tier Britain,” while Labor leader Ed Miliband said it would be wrong to leave the public health measure to bar owners.

The prime minister said Wednesday that it “may be up to individual publicans” if they require clients to have a “Covid vaccination certificate.”

Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove is reviewing the possible use of coronavirus status certificates under plans to ease England’s lockdown.