The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had revealed plans to conduct mass testing and coronavirus “passports” in order to allow people to “enjoy public life” without having to follow any social distancing norms.
At the start of the lockdown, when people feared the loss of civil liberties during the pandemic saga, digital “passports” were dismissed as a conspiracy theory. Now, more and more countries are looking to implement them.
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Before launching it across England, the pilot program will be launched in Salford, in both indoor and outdoor venues.
Johnson said that the testing scheme could roll out by the time it’s Christmas, with full-fledged nationwide testing taking until the Spring of 2021.
He said that the government are planning on going forward with a “simple, quick and scalable” test that would produce results in under thirty minutes and give people a “passport to mingle with everybody else who is similarly not infectious in a way that is currently impossible.”
The UK Prime Minister also said that they were hoping to perform as well as process “millions” of tests on a daily basis to allow people to lead a life free from social distancing.
“Theatres, and sports venues could test audience members one day and let in all those with a negative result, all those who are not infectious. Workplaces would be opened up to all those who test negative in the morning, to behave in a way that is exactly like a world before Covid,” said the Prime Minister.
“At the present time we must also, I’m afraid, revise plans to pilot larger audiences in venues later this month and review our intention to return audiences to stadiums and conference centres from October 1. That doesn’t mean we’re going to scrap the programme entirely, it just means we are going to review and abridge it,” said Johnson.
