Shapps stops Covid ads that could scare passengers

Concerns new health campaign about virus transmission might cut the use of public transport

PLANS to deploy new Covid-19 public health adverts on public transport have been blocked by Grant Shapps amid concern they would unnecessarily alarm passengers.

The Transport Secretary has been accused by officials of partially derailing a campaign known as “stop Covid-19 hanging around”, which is designed to raise awareness about the virus’s ability to spread in enclosed spaces.

Launched last Friday, the campaign involves an advertising blitz across radio, digital and newspapers to encourage people to ventilate their homes better ahead of Christmas.

Dubbed the “smoke campaign”, due to the adverts showing how virus particles move through the air like smoke, it also includes a short film showing how coronavirus can build up and linger.

Sources say the campaign had also been due to run on certain types of public transport, including buses, but was thwarted by Mr Shapps mid-week.

While the plans are said to have been signed off by Department for Health,

Transport and Cabinet Office officials, Mr Shapps demanded that the public transport campaign be suspended.

Following a tense stand-off, officials agreed to launch the campaign without the additional adverts. “This was signed off at every level,” a Whitehall source said. “Shapps said ‘we’re not doing this’. It was going nowhere so the decision was made to go ahead with it, suspending the public transport element of it.”

Another suggested that Mr Shapps objected on the basis that it could scare passengers and lead to a dip in people using public transport.

The Department for Transport has spent billions of pounds during the pandemic on keeping rail operators and other transport networks afloat. Sources close to Mr Shapps insisted that he had no objection to the campaign but had been concerned about the way it had been drawn up.

One said that they had been concerned about the “analogy of black smoke” as this could be potentially misinterpreted by passengers as a warning about fire or even terrorism.

They questioned the wisdom of urging people to improve ventilation on public transport, pointing out that many modern buses had sealed windows. “We have no objection with the fundamental message of the campaign, But we thought the smoke analogy was slightly ill-conceived.

“The instruction to open windows when many buses have sealed windows might confuse passengers.”

It comes amid a wider push to accelerate the vaccine booster programme, which is seen as vital in avoiding the need to reimpose tougher Covid-19 restrictions.

After mounting concerns about the speed of the rollout, ministers last week announced that more than 10 million over-50s will from tomorrow be able to book their booster dose, with slots opening up to a month in advance.

Separately, Boris Johnson is expected to hold a press conference this week to confirm that the Government intends to press ahead with plans to make vaccinations compulsory for NHS staff. However, the deadline for doing so is expected to be pushed back until the end of March amid warnings from the NHS that imposing the requirement during the winter could lead to an exodus of staff.

The Sunday Telegraph understands that Downing Street originally intended to hold the press conference at the end of last week, but was forced to postpone it because parts of the policy had yet to be finalised.

Last night Mr Javid reiterated his calls for people to come forward for their boosters and implored younger relatives to make sure their parents and grandparents took up the offer.