Carabao and FA Cup finals included in spectator test events
Boris Johnson admits there are "ethical and practical issues" with vaccine passports for sport after confirming test events will be launched in the next few weeks during his roadmap out of lockdown.
The Prime Minister confirmed at a Downing Street briefing that Step Two of lifting the coronavirus national lockdown would go ahead as planned.
The Carabao Cup final, the second FA Cup semifinal and the FA Cup final will serve as Wembley pilot events for the government's 'Covid status certification' scheme.
The World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield – running from April 17 to May 3 – is the first sporting event to be included in the trial and will have 1,000 spectators per day, while there will also be three mass participation runs at Hatfield House on April 24 and 25, with 3,000 runners and a further 3,000 spectators.
Johnson said: "I want to stress there are complicated ethical and practical issues as I think I said last time raised by the idea of Covid status certification using vaccination alone.
"Many people will be for one reason or another unable to get a vaccine, for medical reasons for instance, or perhaps because they're pregnant.
"So you have to be very careful how you handle this and don't start a system that is discriminatory.
"But obviously we are looking at it – we want to be going ahead in the next few weeks with some test events, some pilot events.
"Big events, getting 20,000 people into Wembley on May 15 [for the FA Cup final], that kind of thing.”