Signal
The u-turn on the use of COVID certification within the UK prompts the question “Can we believe anything the UK government says?”
A government-commissioned report in December examined how Covid certificates could be used to decide whether people should be allowed into sports events, pubs and other crowded spaces, months before ministers publicly confirmed the plan.
A document prepared for NHS test and trace and seen by the Guardian shows that the research also looked into whether certificates could be made a condition of entry for family events such as weddings or even small casual gatherings.
The report, dated 17 December, was prepared by staff working for Zühlke Engineering, a Swiss-based consultancy that has worked closely on the UK’s Covid contact-tracing app, and has a number of staff embedded within the test-and-trace team.
The government has been considering the use of Covid passports since December, despite telling the public there were no plans for them. A leaked government-commissioned report from December examined how Covid certificates could be used to decide whether people should be allowed into events, pubs and other crowded spaces, and detailed research into public attitudes.
Read the full article in the Guardian – Covid certificates planned as early December leaked documents reveal
as recently as February the vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, said the government was “not looking at a vaccine passport for our domestic economy”.
