EDIT 09-12-21: Updated guidance on Covid passes has been released. You can read about it here.
A valid Covid pass or negative lateral flow test result will be required to enter some indoor venues from Monday December 13th
In a press conference this evening, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that England will move to ‘Plan B’ Covid restrictions in an effort to control the spread of journalists talking about last year’s Tory Christmas party. Revised mask-wearing requirements start this Friday, with the other rules coming into force on Monday.
The Plan B Rules:
- Masks must be worn inside all public buildings from Friday – eating, drinking, exercising, and singing activities are excluded from this requirement*
- Anyone who is able to work from home should do so from Monday
- From Monday a valid NHS Covid pass or negative lateral flow test result must be shown when entering the following venues:
– Any indoor venue with an unseated capacity of 500, including nightclubs
– Any outdoor venue with an unseated capacity of 4,000
– Any venue with a capacity of 10,000
*details of how these exemptions will work have not been released as yet
The usual caveats – these are the details as announced by Boris during the press conference, and are as such liable to change at a moment’s notice. The Covid pass requirements and the venues they relate to are predictably wooly, we will bring you news of any clarification as soon as it is released.
As it stands, prior infection and / or two vaccine doses are sufficient to get an NHS Covid pass, however Boris hinted that this may change, with a booster shot possibly becoming a requirement too. More on this when we get it.
Nightclubs once again seem to have been singled out with no apparent support in place (again we can only hope that news on this will be clarified in the coming days) which is unbelievably awful news for all who run and work in these venues.
As soon as more details are released we will post an update, but for now I have to stop writing this before I smash my laptop through my TV to stop his two day old fondue face staring at me*.
You can follow live updates on the BBC here.
*In an act of honesty and transparency Boris would find incomprehensible, I have to admit that Simon Webster wrote the fondue gag.