Coronavirus news – live: PM to set out ‘traffic light’ system for travel as vaccine passport trials to begin

Trials of the government’s proposed “Covid status certification” scheme are set to begin this month at a series of pilot events in England.

The chosen venues and event dates include:

16 April: Hot Water Comedy Club (Liverpool)

17 April - 3 May: World Snooker Championship at Crucible Theatre (Sheffield)

18 April: Leicester City/Southampton FA Cup semi-final in Wembley

23-25 May: Luna Cinema (Liverpool)

24-25 April: Mass participation run at Hatfield House (Hertfordshire)

25 April: Manchester City/Tottenham Hotspur Carabao Cup Final in Wembley

28 April: Business event at ACC conference centre (Liverpool)

30 April-1 May: Circus Nightclub (Liverpool)

15 May: FA Cup Final in Wembley

Liverpool council has confirmed that pilot events in the city to trial how venues can reopen safely this summer will not require people to show Covid-19 vaccine passports.

It comes after the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) included a number of events in Liverpool on an initial list of pilots and said: “The pilots will explore how different approaches to social distancing, ventilation and test-on-entry protocols could ease opening and maximise participation.

“Covid-status certification will also be trialled as part of the pilot programme.”

But a spokesperson for the council said on Sunday: “The line which was briefed out yesterday by the Government about Liverpool’s events being included in the vaccine passports trials is incorrect - none of our events in Liverpool will involve them.”

The council said the Events Research Programme (ERP) will be used to provide key scientific data on how events for a range of audiences could be permitted to safely reopen as part of Step 4 of the road map out of lockdown.

The Liverpool pilots - a comedy gig, an outdoor cinema, a club night and a business event - will “gather evidence associated with different settings and approaches to managing and mitigating transmission risk”.

The council said: “The pilots will explore how different approaches to social distancing, ventilation and test-on-entry protocols could ease opening and maximise participation, including the use of lateral flow tests - but there will be no use of so-called ‘vaccine passports’.”

Greece will extend restrictions on domestic flights until 12 April and on international flights until 19 April, the Greek government announced today.

Passengers flying to Greece must receive a negative PCR test 72 hours before arrival and undergo random testing for Covid-19.

All foreign travellers must undergo quarantine for seven days, but some rules differ according to where a traveller is coming from.

Israeli travellers who have been fully vaccinated at least two weeks before travelling do not need to undergo quarantine due to a bilateral agreement on tourism between Israel and Greece.

Most flights from non-EU member states are banned, except 10 countries including the UK.

Only essential travel is permitted for domestic flights. Greece recorded 3,080 new infections on Friday, with 72 deaths. This brings its total number of infections to more than 273,000 and just over 8,300 deaths.

The chief executives of leading UK airlines have written to Boris Johnson to urge him to give them the green light for international travel within weeks.

Foreign travel for holidays is currently banned until at least 17 May, ministers have made clear.

The heads of British Airways, easyJet, Jet2.com, Loganair, Ryanair, Tui and Virgin Atlantic, as well as trade body Airlines UK, said in their letter that they recognised restriction-free universal travel may not be possible by that date.

The letter, published by The Sun, said: “However there can be no economic recovery without aviation, and we are confident we now have the tools to enable a safe and meaningful restart to travel in May - allowing us to return to our job of reuniting friends and family, supporting trade and business and allowing Britons to enjoy a well-earned break again.

“We believe vaccinated passengers should not be subject to travel restrictions and that testing can also reduce the barriers to travel including for areas that are considered to present some risk. Only very high-risk areas would be subject to more stringent measures.”

A Conservative peer has denied the pandemic exists ad blame Chinese “fake videos” for fears about Covid-19, sparking calls for her to be sacked from her government job.

Helena Morrissey, a director at the Foreign Office, suggested the crisis has been exaggerated because people are not “dropping dead in the street”.

Our Deputy Political Editor Rob Merrick has the exclusive story:

The health secretary has been summoned to the High Court to justify why non-essential shops are being allowed to reopen before pubs and restaurants.

According to the Sunday Telegraph, the legal action was brought by Pizza Express founder Hugh Osmond and nightclubs operator Sacha Lord.

Matt Hancock was ordered by Mr Justice Swift to “by 10am on Tuesday 6 April file and serve his response to the application”.

High Court documents seen by the newspaper showed the two businessmen are challenging “the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Steps) (England) Regulations 2021 to the extent that those Regulations provide for non-essential retail businesses to reopen before indoor hospitality businesses”.

From 12 April, shops, hairdressers, nail salons, libraries and outdoor hospitality venues such as beer gardens will be allowed to reopen - but indoor hospitality and entertainment venues, and the rest of the accommodation sector, will not be allowed to reopen until at least 17 May.

A church in southwest London has accused the Met Police of “brutally exceeding their powers” after officers shut down a Good Friday service for allegedly breaching coronavirus restrictions.

Worshippers at the Christ the King church, a Roman Catholic place of worship in Balham that caters to the area’s Polish community, had been marking Easter when police broke up the service at 6pm.

Officers were seen in footage walking up to the pulpit and telling worshippers to disperse, warning they faced £200 fines or arrest for breaking lockdown rules.

Vincent Wood reports:

The University of Liverpool’s Professor Iain Buchan said vaccination against Covid-19 will not be necessary for those participating in trial events as part of the scheme to enable the safe return of mass gatherings and indoor events.

Prof Buchan, who will assist with running the scheme in Liverpool, said he did not “recognise the conversation earlier” with Prof Mills about vaccine passports.

“Vaccination will not be a criterion for admission to events: It will just be a test for particles of live virus in your nose,” he told BBC Breakfast.

He added that only those who have provided their consent would participate in the trial.

“This is a research programme based on good science and good ethical conduct is to seek consent, so consent is required to attend the event,” he said.

Professor Melinda Mills, director of the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science at the University of Oxford, said there are “still a lot of open questions” about the government’s planned “Covid status certification” scheme.

She told BBC Breakfast: “There’s scientific questions, there’s logistical questions - how will it work - with an app or a paper version? - and there’s real ethical questions as well, too: do I have to pay for the testing if I haven’t been vaccinated or had that opportunity?

“So there are still a lot of open questions.”

The sociologist said there may be concerns in the community about the storing of private information as part of the scheme, while forgeries could become an issue if paper documents are used.

“Once you have forgery you will lose your legitimacy, so it will be really important to understand technically how this will work,” Prof Mills said.

“The only way to build trust in these systems is through transparency.”

The prime minister has said that the UK can look forward to “brighter days ahead” as the country celebrates Easter - while acknowledging that it has been a “very tough” year.

Boris Johnson said in his Easter message: “This has been a very tough 12 months. But, as ever, the arrival of Easter brings with it new hope.

“And, this year more than ever, it brings the promise of brighter days ahead for us all.”

He acknowledged that many Christians would again be unable to celebrate Easter in the way they wish to.

“That’s why I’ve lost count of the number of church leaders and congregations that have stepped up to support us all in these very challenging times,” Mr Johnson said.

“Millions of Good Samaritans, each of them showing what loving thy neighbour as thyself really looks like in 21st century Britain.

“And having done all that during the darkest days of the pandemic, churches across the UK are now helping us light the path out of it by opening their doors as vaccination centres. It’s really, very moving to see it.”