BRITS could get “immunity wristbands” or certificates to prove they can’t carry or catch coronavirus once the lockdown is over.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Question Time this evening this might be brought in when the post-infection science is clearer.
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He said: “When the science is good enough to understand the immunity that people have after having had the disease, then we are looking at introducing something like an immunity certificate or maybe a wristband that says ‘I’ve had it and I’m immune and I can’t pass it on and I’m highly unlikely to catch it’.
“And we think we will be able to get there but as of today, the scientists are not confident enough in understanding the progress of the disease after people have got through it like I have.”
This could prove enormously helpful as and when the lockdown is relaxed or people who have had the bug and are proved to no longer be vulnerable are allowed to go back to work properly.
He added however that currently it is not certain that people will have immunity after getting the virus – so everyone should continue to practise social distancing still.
Downing Street also said today they would be looking closely at how well immunity certificates work in other countries and consider rolling them out in the UK.
The PM’s spokesman said: “It is is something which has been discussed in other countries.
“We will look at strategies followed elsewhere. If there are things that would be helpful in the UK, we will of course consider them.”
There are now 33,718 confirmed cases of coronavirus with 2,961 deaths in the UK.
Clean bill of health
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is planning on issuing immunity certificates as researchers have begun testing 100,000 people a day for the disease.
The researchers will use antibodies tests which can tell if someone has already had COVID-19 and issue documentation to people to confirm their status.
Immunity certificates would help determine when lockdowns could be lifted, and schools re-opened.
Epidemiologist leading the research project Gerard Krause said: “Those who are immune can then be given a vaccination certificate that would, for example, allow them to be exempt from any (lockdown-related) restrictions on their work.”
The project has not yet received final approval but could be up and running in the next few weeks, with the first wave of results sent out by the end of April.
Travel documents
Other countries around the world have demanded travellers to have certificates confirming they don’t have coronavirus.
Kuwait’s civil aviation authority said last month passengers from 10 countries, including India, Turkey and Egypt, must produce certificates saying they are not infected.
Thailand has also introduced new measures demanding medical certificates from people entering the country confirming they have been tested and are virus free.
The suggestion of immunity certificates in Britain comes in the middle of a huge row over the UK’s failure to carry out enough testing.
Boris Johnson vowed to test more people, after it emerged only 2,000 of the more than 500,000 NHS staff had been tested.
Mr Johnson said mass testing would be “how we will unlock the coronavirus puzzle, this is how we will defeat it in the end”.
But they still haven’t hit their own targets of 10,000 tests a day.
Key workers trying to get tested so they could return to work were forced to queue for hours in their cars, and then turned away and told to book in advance.
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