Pubs, shops, hairdressers and gyms have been given the green light by Boris Johnson to reopen across England from next Monday as the PM delivered the latest of his coronavirus roadmap briefs.

At 5pm today (April 5) Johnson confirmed the rumoured news that government Officials were examining the potential role of Covid status certificates (vaccine passports). The ice has come in for major scrutiny especially from backbencher in a Johnson’s own party. The move was labelled ‘divisive and discriminatory” with a rumoured 72 conservative MP’s actively opposing it.

A pilot scheme could take place from mid-April to trial the system, with later events checking vaccinations.

The certification would not be introduced for either the April 12 lockdown easing or for the planned further changes from May 17 that would see pubs and restaurants serving customers indoors.

Those with an eye for flying out of the country on vacation were told to be “hopeful” that international travel could resume in the next stage of lockdown easing on 17 May, but cautioned that surges of coronavirus cases in other parts of the world could scupper plans.

“The idea of vaccination status being useful for international travel is something that all countries are looking at. I do think that’s going to be part of the way people deal with it and we need to think about that”, Johnson said.