The government is currently hoping to reopen international borders to leisure travel from May 17th, with confirmation expected in the coming days.
Officials are planning to launch a ‘traffic light’ system, with safe countries rated ‘green’, while travel to ‘red’ countries will be prohibited.
Which countries will be given which rating will be revealed “in the next couple of weeks,” Shapps added.
However, even travellers to the safest ‘green’ countries will still need to undergo a Covid-19 test before their departure, as well as on their return to the UK.
Shapps confirmed an NHS app will be used to allow Britons to demonstrate whether they have had a Covid-19 jab, or tested negative for the virus, before travelling abroad.
“It will be the NHS app that is used for people when they book appointments with the NHS and so on, to be able to show you have had a vaccine or that you have had testing,” he explained this morning.
“I am working internationally with partners across the world to make sure that system can be internationally recognised.”
However, the app will not be the NHS Covid-19 app – currently used to check in to venues such as pubs and restaurants for contact-tracing purposes.
It will instead be the NHS app used to book general appointments.
