Brits to find out in 2 WEEKS which holiday destinations will make ‘green list’ – with vaccine passports on NHS Covid app
BRITAIN'S vaccine passport scheme will use the NHS app, Grant Shapps confirmed today, as he pledged to unveil the green list of holiday destinations within the next two weeks.
The transport secretary said Covid certificates for tourism and large domestic events, such as gigs and football matches, will be built into the health service smartphone application.
And in a boost to millions he also announced the UK is on course to drop its ban on international travel on May 17, declaring "The data does continue to look good."
His remarks came after Spain's tourism minister told The Sun that the country will be ready to welcome back Brits in June.
Mr Shapps said the UK will have to be "very cautious" as it reopens the borders because the pandemic is raging worse than ever in many other parts of the world.
But he said he wants to make sure people can get a break this summer, and also that Brits are able to be reunited with family members who live overseas.
He said: "In terms of vaccine certification I can confirm we are working on an NHS application.
"It will be the NHS app that is used for people when they book appointments with the NHS, to be able to show you've had a vaccine or that you've had testing.
"I'm working internationally with partners across the world to make sure that system can be internationally recognised, so that's the way forward."
The transport secretary said he'll chair a meeting with colleagues from the G7 countries - the US, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, and Japan - next week.
And he confirmed he'll soon unveil which countries will fall into the three categories under Britain's new "traffic light" travel system.
Green countries will be classified as the safest, meaning there is no requirement to quarantine when coming back to the UK.
People will still need to take a pre-departure test before returning, plus one more test on their second day home.
Those going to amber countries will be required to go into 10-day isolation and take two tests.
While only British citizens and residents will be able to return from red countries, and they'll have to pay for the £1,750 hotel quarantine.
Four tests will be used to decide which country goes into which category.
Officials will look at rate of vaccination, Covid cases, concerns about variants, and how trusted their reporting of pandemic statistics is.
Mr Shapps said: "Towards the beginning of May I will set out which countries fall into the various different categories. So not long to wait now, within the next couple of weeks.
"The earliest possible unlock is May 17. So far the data does continue to look good from a UK perspective, notwithstanding those concerns about whether people might be travelling to and making sure we're protected from the disease being reimported."And he added: "People that are desperate to take a break. More than people taking holidays, I'm concerned to be able to rejoin families who may not have seen each other for months longer and that requires travel.
"We need to be very cautious. Beyond our shores we're seeing the highest levels of Coronavirus that we've seen so far in the entire pandemic right now.
"So we do need to make sure we do this very, very carefully. We don't want to throw away the lockdown, we don't want to throwaway our remarkable rollout in this country of the vaccination."
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