September 13, 2021 | By Bronwen Largier
Over the weekend, the UK’s Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, flagged on the BBC that the Government is dropping vaccine passports.
On “freedom day” in July when most legal COVID-19 restrictions were lifted in England, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it would be compulsory to show full vaccination status to enter crowded places like nightclubs by the end of September.
Although events were not specifically mentioned, one would assume they fall into the “other venues where large crowds gather” category.
Just last week the UK’s Minister for COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment, Nadhim Zahawi, told Parliament that vaccine passports were still on the agenda – while also saying it “goes against everything I believe in”.
This week, the Government is set to outline the plan for managing COVID-19 during the upcoming winter months and has indicated that powers allowing the Government to apply restrictions to events and gatherings are expected to be repealed.
The UK hit 80 percent full vaccination amongst its population aged 16 and over last week. With most legal COVID-19 restrictions removed almost two months ago on July 19, 971 COVID-related deaths have been reported in the last seven days.
In Singapore, COVID-19 cases have risen dramatically since the city-state began to ease restrictions in August – business events of up to 1,000 fully vaccinated attendees are now allowed.
Despite now having over 80 percent of its population fully vaccinated, Singapore’s Ministry of Health has imposed some new restrictions banning any social interactions in workplace settings.
All Singaporeans have been advised to reduce non-essential social activities until the end of this week. Yesterday the country reported 520 daily COVID-19 cases – amongst its highest numbers of daily infections in more than a year.