Nightclubs set to re-open on July 19 with 'no need for Covid tests or vaccine passports' for visitors

Ministers are said to be deciding whether or not to allow nightclubs to re-open their doors to people without any coronavirus test requirements later this month.

It would be the first time these venues have been allowed to welcome visitors since the pandemic began.

It is thought that the government may allow revellers to return to nightclubs on the new UK freedom date July 19 without having to prove they do not have coronavirus or have been fully vaccinated because this would be ‘too much hassle’.

The Evening Standard have reported that a government source told them: ‘We are increasingly confident that people are protected and the plan is to re-open everything, with no exceptions.’

Nightclubs are among the last parts of the economy to re-open in the delayed final stage of the roadmap out of lockdown.

Step 4 – which should see all legal limits on social contact removed – was originally planned for June 26 by the Prime Minister but was then postponed by four weeks and is set to be unlocked on July 19.

The viability of using vaccine passports to safely bring back freedoms is being reviewed by cabinet minister Michael Gove, who has previously listed ‘the cost and the hassle factor’ as downsides of the approach.

He has now said that proof of a negative test to gain entry in to a venue would impose ‘too much hassle’ on clubbers, according to The Evening Standard.

The return of nightclubs was given a boost earlier this year by the relatively low number of new Covid-19 cases among attendees of a government pilot scheme exploring the impact of large-scale events on transmission.

Ten positive tests were recorded from those at the Circus nightclub in Liverpool, which hosted nearly 7,000 people over two nights.