UK government proposes digital ‘freedom pass’
The UK government is set to introduce a digital ‘freedom pass’ for citizens who frequently undergo COVID-19 testing in order to be able to live a ‘normal’ life until a vaccine is introduced.
The scheme will allow citizens who have tested negative twice in a week freedom to roam and be exempt from mask-wearing and social distancing.
People who test negative for COVID will be given a digital document that will allow them to move around in public with no issue.
“They will allow someone to wander down the streets, and if someone else asks why they are not wearing a mask, they can show the card, letter, or an app,” a source close to the issue told The Telegraph.
The source added the passes – which could even be a QR code – would allow people “to see their family, and normal social distancing rules will not apply”.
Former UK health secretary Jeremy Hunt has talked up the idea, and has encouraged the government to carry out mass testing.
“In Slovakia, they gave those with negative results a certificate that released them from curfew and allowed them to go out, shop, and go to work. This meant 97 percent of the eligible population was tested,” Hunt said.
“We should do the same in the UK, using the NHS COVID-19 app to record who has been tested and who has received the vaccine.”
Its Orwellian name, however, attempts to gloss over the irony of a government issued certificate to allow one to merely go outdoors and live normally being considered anything near ‘freedom’.
