Hancock: ‘Covid pass’ after taking rapid test can revive theatre

THE Health Secretary is supporting 24hour “Covid passes” that could allow people to go back to theatres and sporting events.

Matt Hancock said the Government was funding a new generation of rapid tests, which would enable people to go into confined environments with others knowing they were free of the virus that day.

It comes as MPS warned that the theatre industry is facing mass redundancies due to its prolonged closure, and The Daily Telegraph launched a petition to reopen the West End.

More than half of workers in the arts and leisure sectors remain furloughed, compared with 13 per cent across the wider economy, a report by the digital, culture, media and sport committee (DCMS) found.

Mr Hancock yesterday described a pregnancy-style test, which gives instantaneous results, as the “holy grail”, which could entitle someone to a “pass” for 24 hours.

“That is the hope that we hold out for the nation, that we can get things going even if there isn’t a vaccine, that we can use mass testing so people can check whether they have the virus today. If they don’t, then [they can] go and do things, even if it means being in close confinement,” he told LBC.

“We need to use the next design of tests which don’t require you to send the swab off to the lab and get the result back.”

Meanwhile, Julian Knight, the DCMS committee chairman, said the entertainment and leisure sectors had become “hostages to fortune” after the Government’s decision to shut down theatres, concert halls and leisure centres, and to prevent the return of full audiences.

The Telegraph petition, launched by our theatre critic, Dominic Cavendish, has been backed by Lord Lloyd Webber and other industry figures. It calls on the Government to review the social distancing rules for indoor theatres as a matter of urgency as “the rationale for keeping theatres closed for months longer must be properly debated and speedier consideration needs to be given to the possibility of lifting social distancing in theatres”.

The DCMS committee called for the Chancellor to throw the industry a “lifeline” by extending the furlough scheme for arts and leisure workers.

In a letter to Rishi Sunak, Mr Knight said: “The decision to introduce those restrictions on the arts and leisure sectors was a Government one. The Government therefore has a responsibility to support these sectors’ workforces until the industries have fully reopened.

“Otherwise we risk many cultural organisations going out of business, never to return.”