UK: NHS COVID Pass to Be Dropped for Domestic Use

The government of the United Kingdom has announced NHS COVID Pass has been dropped for domestic use.

Such a decision means that Britain’s citizens will no longer be required to present such documents when traveling within the Kingdom, VisaGuide.World reports.

Through a statement, the UK’s government confirmed that from today, May 12, the NHS COVID passport will no longer be available while new medical exemption applications will not be accepted.

“In line with this change, from May 12, the medical exemptions service will no longer accept new applications from people who want to use the domestic NHS COVID Pass to prove they cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons. GPs will have until July 11 to process any applications received by May 12,” the statement published by the UK’s government confirmed.

However, authorities in the UK also stressed that the COVID pass for international travel would continue to be used as usual.

The document has been designed by authorities in the UK in order to help detect the citizens’ COVID-19 status in a secure way. NHS COVID pass shows citizens’ COVID-19 status when planning to travel to other countries, as well as at venues and events across the UK that chose to use such a certificate as a condition of entry.

Citizens can get such documents digitally through the NHS App and as a letter sent to citizens in the post if traveling to other countries.

Authorities in the United Kingdom introduced it in order to further ease the travel process amid the current epidemiological situation and prevent the further spread of the Coronavirus and its new strains.

According to the figures provided by the World Health Organisation (WHO), a total of 22,144,632 people in Britain have tested positive for the Coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic.

Besides, the same source shows that 176,687 people in the UK have died during the same period due to the COVID-19 and its new variants.

The figures provided by WHO also show that as of May 4, a total of 142,305,640 vaccine doses have been administered.

Authorities in the United Kingdom abolished the majority of the restrictions imposed to halt the further spread of the Coronavirus on January 27, which means that the requirement for COVID-19 passes for large events was also lifted.

UK’s “Plan B” measures made NHS Covid pass compulsory for entry into nightclubs and venues, including unseated indoor venues with over 500 people.